How profoundly has Minnesota changed in 10 years? Consider this:
A federal government that was begging for workers to help carry out Census 2000 has thousands of people stepping forward to join the Census 2010 effort.
A federal government that was canvassing high schools for help 10 years ago, and jacking up its pay at the last minute because it was 3,000 workers short, is confident today of locating the 35,000 applicants it's seeking.
So confident, in fact, that hourly pay in some places is not that much more than it was 10 years ago. "A lot of people are in a position to need some work for awhile," said Dennis Johnson, regional director for the U.S. Census Bureau in Kansas City, which is overseeing the effort in Minnesota and other nearby states. "In fact, last spring, when we needed people to go out and check addresses, we toned down our recruiting because so many people were applying." Minnesota's unemployment rate is expected to remain at about 8 percent throughout 2010.
And the feds are finding plenty of cheap temporary places for desks, in a market in which roughly 20 percent of all office space stands silent.
That said, both he and the office managers for districts in Minnesota are stressing that they are still very much in the market for workers. Surpluses in some parts of the state can exist alongside shortages in others, said Gary Van Eyll, who heads the bureau's temporary office in Edina, which covers suburban Hennepin County and all of Carver County.
The need for workers starts climbing in February and March, as census forms go out, then peaks in May and early summer, as the government tries to track down folks who didn't file a form in April. Census Day is April 1.
Statewide, officials say, they are seeking 35,000 applicants and expect to offer jobs to 10,000 of those. Of that smaller number, they expect about 8,000 will actually accept jobs and like the work enough -- or need it enough -- to stick it out for the full term.