[StBernard] U.S. Census plans to hire 2, 000 at new New Orleans headquarters

[Westley Annis]

U.S. Census plans to hire 2,000 at new New Orleans headquarters
By Michelle Krupa, The Times-Picayune 
December 14, 2009, 11:21AM
Less than four months before the U.S. Census begins its much-anticipated
national headcount, federal and local officials on Monday officially opened
an eastern New Orleans headquarters that is expected to employ 2,000
temporary workers to help tally the region's population.

The office at 6600 Plaza Drive will provide services to Orleans, St. Bernard
and Plaquemines parishes, where unprecedented and costly measures are slated
to be taken to ensure an accurate count of communities devastated by
Hurricane Katrina.

Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist parishes are covered by a
regional office in Houma, while St. Tammany falls under the purview of the
Census' Hammond office. 

The New Orleans office next month will begin hiring workers to hand-deliver
Census questionnaires to every inhabitable address across the three
parishes, as well as other jobs. Interested applicants for positions paying
at least $17.50 per hour can call 866.861.2010 for more information. All
applicants will be asked to take a 30-minute basic skills test. 

Officials on Monday stressed that getting every resident in the country to
respond to the Census' 10-question form is key to making sure some $400
billion in federal money is fairly distributed. Hiring local workers is
crucial to the effort, said Gabriel Sanchez, director of the Census Bureau's
Dallas Regional Office, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

"They know where the back roads are, they know where the mean dogs are," he
said. "They know where to go to make sure everyone gets counted."