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Inspector General’s Memo: Census Says It Hired More Workers Than It Needed
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/67156 ^

Posted on 06/04/2010 2:23:50 PM PDT by kcvl

The U.S. Census purposefully hired more workers than it needed, telling the Office of the Inspector General of the Commerce Department that it did so as a “cost-saving measure,” according to a memorandum that Todd J. Zinser of the inspector general’s office sent to Census Bureau Director Robert Groves last week.

“According to Census,” said Zinser’s May 26 memo to Groves, “‘frontloading’ its workforce (i.e. hiring and training more enumerators than necessary to offset turnover) is a cost-saving measure.” The inspector general’s memo, however, suggested that in at least one Census Bureau operation excessive staff had increased the “cost of operations” and that in another operation deployment of an unnecessarily large number of workers "increased the operation’s direct labor and travel costs."

In the first quarter of this year (January-March), personnel from the inspector general’s office observed Census Bureau operations in four programs. These included “update/leave” (U/L), in which Census workers deliver questionnaires to homes that would not be reached by ordinary mail service; “update/enumerate” (U/E), which counts people in communities where the homes lack ordinary mailing addresses or street names; "enumeration at transitory locations" (ETL), which counts people at places where their residences are potentially mobile, such as recreational vehicle parks, campgrounds, marinas and carnivals; and “service-based enumeration” (SBE), which counts homeless people at places such as homeless shelters, mobile food vans and so-called “targeted non-sheltered outdoor locations” (TNSOL).

The inspector general’s memo said that the Census Bureau had “overestimated” the staff needed for the program to enumerate people at transitory locations. “During the ETL operation,” said the memo, “crew leaders overestimated the number of Census staff needed to enumerate transitory locations, thus increasing the cost of operations.”

The memo also said that there were so many people hired for the “service-based enumeration” that there turned out to be one Census enumerator for every seven homeless people counted, and that the inspector general’s office “observed significant periods of enumerator inactivity at certain locations.”

“In another operation [which the inspector general’s office confirmed to CNSNews.com was the SBE program],” said the memo, “we found many enumerator teams to be unnecessarily large—an average ratio of one enumerator for just seven homeless respondents. We observed significant periods of enumerator inactivity at certain locations, which increased the operation’s direct labor and travel costs.”


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: census; economy; jobs; spending
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To: ntnychik
Hi nit. I had just posted on another thread about this too.

Temporary census jobs accounted for 411,000 of the May increase in payrolls. Think about when they get layed off and start collecting unemployment......!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2527771/posts?page=37#37

21 posted on 06/04/2010 3:07:51 PM PDT by potlatch
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To: potlatch
Think about when they get layed off and start collecting unemployment......!!

When they hired the first big batch of temporary workers to go around the country with GPS devices and log the GPS coordinates of every front door....they were hired as TEMPORARY workers ...and without the right to sign on for unemployment benefits...

is this the same for the current temp workers....? ....anyone know..?

thanks in advance.

22 posted on 06/04/2010 3:13:52 PM PDT by spokeshave (They'll get my false teeth when they pry them from my sister's cold, dead mouth)
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To: spokeshave

[without the right to sign on for unemployment benefits]

I did wonder about that - after I had commented. I don’t know the rules on unemployment. Thanks for the info.


23 posted on 06/04/2010 3:17:09 PM PDT by potlatch
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To: potlatch
...it depends on the state....I read somewhere that California EDD bends over backwards and more to get people signed up.

I had a friend that was on "permanent " unemployment.

He worked a few weeks at Christmass/new year sales at macys or similar big box store....then signed up for unemployment benes...which was always approved...since he was "laid off for lack of work."

the kicker was that he always ticked the box "do you want to take educational classes"...

so he goes to some class and gets unemployment paid AND EXTENDED and all the fees paid.

he has all sorts of certificates...software, data base, accounting, truck driving..etc...

I lost track of him a year ago so I dont know the current situation.

24 posted on 06/04/2010 3:33:09 PM PDT by spokeshave (They'll get my false teeth when they pry them from my sister's cold, dead mouth)
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To: kcvl
there turned out to be one Census enumerator for every seven homeless people counted

Government efficiency.

25 posted on 06/04/2010 3:36:21 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: digger48

LOL... that must really bugger them when they run across someone like me. I sent my form in late in April, about when I was expecting a visit. Sent it on Tuesday... On Friday eve the worker showed up at my door...!

I honestly said “I just sent it earlier this week” and closed the door.

Sounds like a lot of people had the same like - but in my case it was an honest one.


26 posted on 06/04/2010 3:41:16 PM PDT by AFPhys ((Praying for our troops, our citizens, that the Bible and Freedom become basis of the US law again))
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To: spokeshave
I'm in Texas. I have read that those who draw unemployment HAVE to keep searching for work and notify the unemployment bureau.

But they can't make you take a lower paying job!

Sad about the slackers who continually find ways to feed off the government. They should be ecstatic with a President who encourages it now!

27 posted on 06/04/2010 3:44:21 PM PDT by potlatch
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To: kcvl

They are being paid $27.50/hour gross. Net is around $20/hr.

What is wrong with this picture?


28 posted on 06/04/2010 3:46:00 PM PDT by Cincinna (TIME TO REBUILD * ? * RYAN * 2012)
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To: kcvl
I ran this headline past my 15 year old and she didn't hesitate a bit when she said “That's stupid!”
29 posted on 06/04/2010 4:09:26 PM PDT by bamabound (teach them how to think, not what to think!)
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To: spokeshave

start collecting unemployment......!!

.... ahhhhhh, relax... no Census enumerators, or crew leaders are hired full time. All are temp and get zip in bennies or even promises. It takes an act of God to be allowed to work 40 hours and if you have to go over you have to agree to straight time, or you have to go home and start again the next day. Same as last year... unless you get an LCO slot, nowhere near 40 hours, more like 20-25 and that’s stretching it... and yes, while wrapping up one assignment in the Census office one could overhear the recruiter offering NEW off the street testors new spots, while we ran out of work and were still in limbo for 5 weeks before getting reassigned, if at all. FUBAR
and a pretty big waste of taxpayer money...so what else is new???

ymmv


30 posted on 06/04/2010 7:14:52 PM PDT by ElectionInspector (Molon Labe)
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To: kcvl
CNSNews.com
31 posted on 06/04/2010 7:39:53 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: digger48
The little old lady that came to my house(after I’d sent the form in on time), said she had lots of people in her area that say they mailed them. She just said “the Post Office musta lost ‘em”

Same script at my house. Funny how the census can volunteer that as excuse on a mass scale when no other federal agency will accept it from an individual citizen.

32 posted on 06/05/2010 4:50:21 AM PDT by Eroteme
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To: kcvl

Hey, don’t blame the Census Bureau (which is under the direction of the White House, remember?). They’re just doing whatever they can to give -17nobama some good employment numbers.


33 posted on 06/05/2010 1:36:13 PM PDT by upchuck (The last 4 letters in American: I Can; last 4 in in Republican: I Can; last 4 in in Democrats: RATS)
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