CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Officials from the U.S. Census Bureau are confident with the number of workers they’ll be able to hire for the 2020 Census in the Mountain State.
Three regional job fairs wrapped up on Thursday and Friday and U.S. Census Bureau Partnership Specialist Jamie Middlebrook told MetroNews that she is excited because of the outcome.
“I think that we had a great turnout,” she said.
“We had many interested applicants as well as some that had come that had previously applied and were interested in an update with their application. Overall, I believe it was a great turnout.”
Middlebrook said that during the Charleston event on Thursday, over 100 people attended with 27 applying on the spot, many other checking previous applications and some applying when they went back home.
Similar events were held in Huntington and Morgantown on Friday as the bureau is looking for enumerators, recruiting assistants and census field supervisors to take part in this year’s count.
According to Middlebrook, 44 people attended the Huntington event with 23 applying on location.
The count is crucial for the state as it will affect how much local and state governments receiving in federal funding as well as the number of lawmakers each state gets in the House of Representatives.
Middlebrook said more hiring events will be held throughout the state as the bureau is hoping for around 8,000 applications.
“We are happy when we get any turnout,” she said. “Five is just as great as that 27. We are still actively hiring and recruiting within the state. We need more than 8,000 applications statewide.”
Interested individuals can apply any time online at census.gov and must be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, and have a valid Social Security number and email address. Pay differs on each position, ranging from $13.50 to $24 an hour.
Census Day is April 1 but Middlebrook said officials will be hiring, recruiting and training throughout.
“Once they’ve applied, it kind of gets turned over and then as the screening process takes place,” Middlebrook said of applicants.
“There is not a definitive time frame. I’d say to keep an eye on the phone because that’s where the first wave of contact goes out.”