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Census Bureau Expects To Hire 1,000-Plus In Bay Area

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 18, 2009

TAMPA - Late next month, the U.S. Census Bureau will begin testing applicants to fill more than 1,000 jobs around the Tampa Bay area for the 2010 census.

The agency expects to need 1.4 million workers nationwide to do such tasks as verifying addresses, quality control and visiting households that did not return the questionnaires.

Each of the nine census offices in Florida will need more than 1,000 workers. The Tampa office covers Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.

The pay varies according to the type of work and location, but the general range is $9 to $18 an hour, said Pam Page-Bellis, chief spokeswoman for the Atlanta region, which includes Florida.

Applicants must be 18 or older, a legal U.S. resident, able to read and write English, and have basic math skills. All workers must pass a background check and take a lifelong oath to keep all information confidential.

Most workers will need to provide their own transportation, although the work will be near where they live, Page-Bellis said.

In April, after training, the first wave of workers will use handheld computers to verify addresses in the Census Bureau's database before census forms are mailed.

Other workers then will perform tasks such as spot-checking addresses for quality control.

In 2010, workers will go to households that did not return the questionnaires.

Workers will be brought in for a job, work until it's done and then wait for the next wave.

"The majority are temporary, part-time," Page-Bellis said. "You might be on for eight weeks or so for field operations, be off, then brought back again."

Mostly, the hours are flexible, with workers tailoring their time to cover their assigned job or territory.

The jobs will last until late summer or early fall 2010.

To apply, call 1-866-861-2010 or go to www.2010censusjobs.gov.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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