Constable: Census counts on hired hands to make sure the counts are right

We're gearing up for that time when strangers come to your door wanting something. Doling out your personal information to those census-takers could lead to treats for your community. But before that effort kicks off in the spring, the U.S. Census Bureau needs to hire a half million Americans.

Instead of just asking Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant or Cortana to reveal all the details artificial intelligence has gleaned from the American public, the U.S. Census wants to get that information from actual humans. You can apply online at 2020census.gov/en/jobs/how-to-apply.

At last week's recruitment effort at the Wheaton Public Library, applicants were told that U.S. Census jobs pay $19.50 an hour (as much as $22.50 in some towns), reimburse 58 cents for every mile you drive, have some flexible hours and allow you to stay close to home.

But wait, there's more. Census workers improve the mechanics of our democracy. The number of people who respond is used to establish the number of Electoral College votes and the number of representatives in Congress that Illinois gets. The census data also helps our communities get their fair share of more than $675 billion annually in federal funds spent on schools, roads, hospitals and other programs.

"You need to have people answering so you can get the right amount of money. It's important for us to be counted," says Bob Morris, a 67-year-old Glendale Heights resident who went to Western Illinois University and started his own business appraising used cars after a career in the insurance industry. "My major in college was political science. Money is politics, and politics is money."

Morris says he has a couple of days a week when he's not busy and thinks being a part-time census worker could fill those hours. He says he's worried some immigrant populations might be hesitant to give family information to a government agency.

But when he was a kid growing up in Chicago, Morris said, his extended Irish family made sure to list everyone. "We always had some relatives living with us," he says.

The U.S. Census Bureau is prohibited by law from giving the information to anyone, including officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security or the IRS. Census workers won't let your landlord know you have nine people living in the second bedroom and won't tell your parents if your relationship with your roommate is more than you say.

"Distrust in government is a huge barrier for us," says Jeanine Duson, assistant regional census manager of recruiting. "Be not afraid. We are not here to police. We're here only for the data, and it's only the data we are using."

This year, for the first time, Americans will be able to answer the Census 2020 questions online. You can also answer by phone or in person in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Japanese. The questions are streamlined. They don't ask if you are a citizen. They do make you choose either male or female as your gender, but you'll still be counted if you don't answer that. The days of the long, paper forms are over.

"I remember years ago, they came to our house, and it was a big family affair filling it out," says applicant Linda Bonen, who grew up in Melrose Park and now lives in Carol Stream. Bonen recently left a career as a retail mall manager and says she feels drawn to apply for a job as a census-taker.

"This not-working thing is new to me," says Bonen, who still serves on the board of directors for the Wheaton Chamber of Commerce. "It's a little bit for the money, and also to be doing something. When it's nice out I spend a lot of time golfing."

So she's answering the call of Uncle Sam.

"If they truly need all these people, why am I sitting home?" Bonen reasons, thinking of the census gig as a civic duty. "It's right up there with giving blood. I feel good about that."