Pocono News Section

Thousands of Local Workers to be Hired for Census

Thousands of Local Workers to be Hired for Census - Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 4:30PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010 @ 04:30pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- ItÕs easy, itÕs safe and itÕs important. That's the message workers with the 2010 Census tried to highlight at an event in Scranton Tuesday morning. They want to make sure every person in Northeast Pennsylvania takes part.

Phil Lutz of the U. S. Census Bureau said, ÒItÕs 10 questions. It takes about ten minutes to fill out and the data will be used for the next ten years."

In less than 90 days, census questionnaires will be mailed out to every home. The results help the federal government dish out 400 billion dollars in funding. Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo said, ÒAn accurate count ensures that we're going to get our fair share of the national pie. It really does come down to that."

Blanca Rosenthal has helped establish a committee to make sure the Latino population is counted correctly. Since the last census ten years ago, our area's Latino population has increased dramatically.

ÒIt would be great to know exactly how many there are. I know a lot moved up from Luzerne County to Lackawanna County. We just want to know exactly how many of us are out here," she said.

Besides being an important resource the census process will mean an economic boost. Roughly 3,000 local workers are needed in the greater Scranton area alone.

Scranton Assistant Recruiting Manager Charlie Spano said, ÒEach person hired for field work will earn -- on average -- between 11 and 12 dollars an hour and work an average of 20 to 40 hours a week for up to eight weeks at a time. ThatÕs thousands of dollars in a very short period of time."

All of the information provided in the census is confidential. Officials say it cannot be shared with anyone -- including other federal agencies.

If you'd like to learn more about applying for one of the census jobs, you can call the Scranton office at 903-6021 or the Census hotline at 1-866-861-2010.