Census Bureau to open office in Georgetown

Jan 22, 2009

Austin American-Statesman

The Census Bureau is gearing up for its decennial count in Central Texas with the opening of an office in Georgetown on Friday and the launch of its recruiting effort for employees and counters.

The Georgetown office is the first census office opening in the Austin area and the fourth to open in Texas. It covers 15 counties, including Travis, Williamson and Bastrop. Three more offices will open in the Austin area in October, but their locations have yet to be determined, census officials said.

Census data is used to determine how the federal government allocates 0 billion to communities each year as well as the apportionment of congressional seats and redistricting.

The grand opening will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the Georgetown office, 3010 Williams Drive, Suite 144. The event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and Georgetown Mayor George Garver and Williamson County Judge Dan A. Gattis are expected to speak about the importance of the census to the community.

Census officials plan to hire about 1,000 temporary workers by next month for the office's "address canvassing" operation, during which area addresses will be verified to ensure that each household receives a census questionnaire in March 2010. At the peak of data collection, which will be in May 2010, census officials plan to have 1,500 employees in each office.

Because of the sluggish economic climate, interest in the jobs has been high, and several hundred people already have applied, according to Gabriel Sanchez, U.S. Census Bureau regional director for Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

But he still encourages other applicants.

"We need a significantly higher number of applicants than workers," he said.

Sanchez added that people in every community who are familiar with the area are needed.

"They make the best workers because they know where everything is," he said.

A majority of the jobs span eight to 10 weeks, Sanchez said. Depending on the position and location, workers will be paid to .25 per hour. Though census officials prefer employees to work full time, flexible hours are offered, as are paid training and mileage reimbursement.

To apply for a position, call the job line, 866-861-2010; don't go to the census office, census officials said.

Applicants will be guided to a local testing center, scheduled for a basic skills test, undergo a background check and fill out forms.

Hiring will take place before each of the office's initiatives; one operation will be validating all places where people can live, including homeless shelters and prisons, Sanchez said. "We have to count everyone everywhere, so there's a lot of work to be done before May of 2010."