Nancy Edmonds Hanson
hansonnanc@gmail.com

Moorhead and Clay County are getting ready to count everyone who lives here. But with the 2020 census coming up on April 1, 2020, one number is already giving officials headaches: Census takers are in desperately short supply.
While most residents are expected to report how many live in their households themselves, either online – for the first time in history – or by mail or toll-free telephone call, workers are being hired to track down data in person for the rest. About 80% of Americans are expected to answer questions after receiving postcards with no further contact, reaching the rest who don’t respond to reminders will require an army of part-time employees to knock on doors in ensuing weeks and gather answers face to face.
That’s where the massive effort is running into problems. According to Maureen Schreiner, who works for the U.S. Census Bureau in St. Paul, Minnesota, the bureau has so far received applications from only 32% of the 38,000 Minnesotans the organization hopes to screen and hire.
The Census Bureau recently sweetened its incentives to attract more applicants. Jenna Duwenhoegger, a partnership specialist with the Census Bureau in Chicago, told local officials Monday that the Minnesota starting wage has recently been raised from $14.50 to $19 per hour. Some positions pay as much as $27.50.
“It’s a good deal,” she told Moorhead’s Complete Count Committee Monday. “I recruited all of my own family at Thanksgiving.”
Census takers will go door to door in their communities to collect responses from people who failed to respond to the postcards and letters they will be receiving starting in March. Hours are flexible; those hired can work from five to 40 hours a week. They may work around other jobs at their convenience, and will be paid weekly. Applicants must be 18 or over, have a valid drivers license and car (in most cases), and have access to a computer for online training. They will be provided with smartphones on the job.
Applications filed in coming weeks go into a pool of potential workers to be matched with available positions. Telephone interviews will begin in January. Those who make the first cut will undergo federal background checks and be fingerprinted before decisions are made. After paid training conducted online and in person, each will swear an oath to never divulge the information they gather, now or in the future. They’ll hit the ground in April and continue until all contacts are completed.
How many will ultimately be hired here? That’s an open question. Duwenhoegger told the local committee that the final number will depend on several factors, including how many households remain to be counted in person and how many hours the census workers sign up for. That’s one reason for the large pool of recruits they are seeking, since exact demands won’t be known until the number of non-respondents is known.
America has been counting noses every 10 years since 1790. Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the decennial census is among the most crucial of traditions. In 2020 – say the Moorheaders leading the awareness campaign to get everyone on the same page – making sure that every resident is counted is more important than ever.
“Every single person who is counted means $28,000 to Minnesota in getting our fair share of federal funding,” says assistant city planner Kim Citrowske. Along with Josh Huffman and Robin Huston of the planning office, she heads Moorhead’s complete count group. “It affects our representation in St. Paul and Washington. The data are used for all kinds of planning by public agencies and private businesses.
“Making sure this census gets done right is a very big deal.”
For more information on the jobs available in Clay County and to submit an application, go to www.2020census.gov/jobs.