Ignoring Your Census Form Is a Pretty Costly Decision

When you don't return the form, someone has to be sent out to count you and the people living in your home. And that effort is costly. For each 1 percent increase in the response rate, the bureau, a part of the Commerce Department, saves about $90 million. During the last count, in 2000, the response rate improved to 67 percent. It had been declining for three decades.

"I'm hoping more people will mail in their census form than ever before," Locke said.

I hope so, too. We need every penny saved, considering the bulging deficit the government is racking up.

There's another reason to pay attention to this count, especially if you are among the millions who are unemployed. Over the next year, the Census Bureau will be one of the largest employers in the United States, Locke said.

"We plan to hire almost 1.2 million people through the end of next year at a competitive hourly wage," he said. "In an economy as difficult as this one, these jobs can serve as a vital bridge for workers until they can find something more permanent."

For a person going door to door to collect census data, the hourly wage will range from $10 to $25 depending on location, according to Census Bureau spokesman Stephen L. Buckner.

Most recruiting will start in mid- to late-November, with a lot of hiring taking place in the spring of 2010.

To find out about the available jobs, go to http://www.2010censusjobs.gov.

Ironically, the more people who don't fill out their forms, the more jobs there will be. But it's not a great use of taxpayer dollars and certainly not a long-term employment opportunity. The census jobs last on average six to eight weeks.

For the first time, the Census Bureau will be sending out bilingual forms to about 13 million Spanish-English households. The bilingual questionnaires will be sent to neighborhoods with high concentrations of households that speak Spanish at home, Buckner said. These areas were identified using previous census data and current information produced from the American Community Survey. Forms will also be available by request in Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian.

This year the census form has just 10 questions and should take less than 10 minutes to answer, Locke said.

Ten minutes and you can help ensure your community isn't shortchanged in either congressional representation or federal dollars.

-- By mail: Readers can write to Michelle Singletary at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.

-- By e-mail: singletarym@washpost.com.

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