FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2000
Contact: Morrie Goodman CB00-CN.32
202-482-4883
Maury Cagle
301-457-3030
Commerce Secretary Daley Reports Nation Hits
Key Census Milestone
U.S. Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley and Census Bureau Director
Kenneth Prewitt announced today that 61 percent of American households
have returned their census forms. The 61 percent mail response rate meets
the Census Bureau's projection used for budget and management purposes in
planning census field operations and requesting funding from the U.S.
Congress.
"The first census of the new millennium has reached an important
milestone," said Secretary Daley. "However, we can and must do better.
Every resident in America should be cooperating fully in this process. If
you still have a census form, fill it out completely and send it back now.
If you don't mail back your form, please cooperate with census workers
when they knock at your door."
Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said, "The 61 percent response
rate is encouraging news, but we still have a long way to go to reach a
complete count. Census 2000 will succeed only if people cooperate fully.
In this context, recent congressional actions and statements that might
support some people's inclinations to leave some questions blank are
unhelpful and potentially harmful to this effort."
Secretary Daley added, "The Sense of the Senate amendment approved by
voice vote last week tells the Census Bureau to do nothing at all to
ensure that people answer all census questions. While the amendment has no
real legal effect, it sends the wrong message that people can refuse to
answer questions they don't like. This is extremely unfortunate. All
Census 2000 questions were reviewed by Congress in advance, and the data
gathered are vital to communities across America carrying out laws and
properly distributing federal funds. At this moment, it is imperative that
we do everything humanly possible to encourage, not discourage, full
participation in Census 2000."
Through April 11, the Census Bureau will post the Census 2000 initial
response rates on its Internet site at http://www.census.gov for state,
local and tribal entities. This site provides valuable feedback to local
areas about the mailback rate so they can monitor their household
participation rate within their communities.
On April 27, the Census Bureau will begin sending enumerators to visit
all those households that have not returned their census forms.
The Census Bureau's '90 Plus Five campaign challenged state and local
jurisdictions to raise their response rates by at least 5 percentage
points over 1990. In 1990, the national response rate was 65 percent; thus
the '90 Plus Five goal is 70 percent.
Currently, 7 percent of the nation's jurisdictions have met or exceeded
their target response rate. Among them are Boston, Mass.; Santa Ana,
Calif.; Anaheim, Calif.; Compton, Calif.; Modesto, Calif.; Plymouth,
Mass.; Panama City, Fla.; and St. Cloud, Minn.
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