The Census Bureau said Monday it will hire more than 5,000 people for temporary jobs at five offices across North Carolina.
Local census offices are in Charlotte, Asheville, Fayetteville, Greensboro and Greenville, and jobs include address listers, office clerks, recruiting assistants, crew leaders and field operation supervisors.
“The census is a constitutional mandate that’s too big for the federal government to carry out alone,” said William Hatcher, director of the Charlotte Regional Census Center, in a statement. “That’s why we must build an army of local people to help prepare for and carry out the census in 2010.”
Conducted every 10 years, the census provides the most accurate count of national, state and local populations. Those figures help determine the number of government representatives for an area and how federal funds are spent on such community services as roads, parks, housing, schools and public safety.
Census jobs typically are popular with retirees, students, part-time workers and people who are between jobs. In the current downturn, however, opportunities with the 2010 census may appeal to a wider range of people, especially since the jobs have flexible schedules and allow people to work close to home.
Statewide, jobs have been harder to find lately. State officials said Friday that N.C. unemployment was 7 percent in October – the highest rate in almost six years.
The census jobs – full-time and part-time – are temporary, with pay starting at $8.75 an hour. Workers being hired now will help develop an address list in the spring.
Another wave of hiring in 2009 will be for census takers who go door-to-door to gather information from people who don’t return questionnaires by mail. The Census Bureau plans to open 10 more N.C. offices next year before the 2010 census.
April 1, 2010, is the official Census Day.
Taken from the CharlotteObserver.com
