Census Bureau Seeks Employees

BOSTON — Emphasizing that local people know their neighborhoods best, the US Census Bureau is looking for people in Newtown and throughout the region to be enumerators in Census 2000. The enumerators will be critical in helping to obtain questionnaires from households who did not return their forms. Enumerators are part of the nationwide effort to count every man, woman, and child in America.

“I’m personally committed to the idea that local people are the best-equipped to help us get an accurate count,” said Richard Pezzulo, manager of the Waterbury Local Census Office, which covers the Newtown area.

Census enumerators will canvas towns and cities throughout America from late April to early July conducting door-to-door census interviews. The Census Bureau also conducted door-to-door operations in 1990 and earlier censuses.

Applicants for the Census 2000 jobs should be 18 years old and have the use of a car. Pay ranges from $14.25 to $15.75 per hour plus 32.5 cents mileage reimbursement. Employees will be paid for training time. For information or to apply for full-time or part-time positions, call the local census office at 203/596-3737 or toll-free 888/325-7733.

Census counts are used to reapportion the seats of the US House of Representatives among states and to redraw congressional and state legislative boundaries. The federal government also uses census data to determine the distribution of nearly $200 billion annually to programs benefiting local communities. The US Constitution mandates a census every ten years. The nation conducted its first census in 1790. Census 2000 will be America’s 22nd decennial headcount.