March 22, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Counting the counters: Census 2000

The Census of Population, which is conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census once every 10 years, requires years of planning and thousands of employees. As seen in the chart, employment levels are affected by this—both in the actual year in which the census is conducted and to a lesser degree, up to 21 months prior to the census.

[Chart data—TXT]

During each of the last four decennial censuses, Federal employment spiked between March and May of the census year, corresponding with hiring for the Nonresponse Followup portion of the census—this followup is conducted in April through July.

Throughout the March to September 2000 period, the monthly BLS Employment Situation news release, which publishes data from the Current Employment Statistics survey and Current Population Survey, will identify the impact of census workers on employment estimates. Early in 2001, BLS will publish a detailed account of the effects of Census 2000 on employment.

These data are a product of the Current Employment Statistics program. To find out more, see "Counting the counters: effects of Census 2000 on employment," by Laura A. Kelter, Monthly Labor Review, February 2000.