Several groups have sued the The U.S. Census Bureau for discriminating as it hires workers for the 2010 survey. According to The Wall Street Journal, “In the suit, job applicants claimed the Census Bureau was unlawfully screening out minorities by requiring all applicants to provide court documents related to an arrest, whether or not it resulted in a conviction.”
If true, it would mean that the Census Bureau has used a simple slight of hand to keep out workers based on race. Court records are easy for the federal government to collect.
The improving unemployment numbers in March were helped by the hiring of 48,000 temporary Census workers. That pool of jobs will increase by tens of thousands as the work to estimate the US population picks up speed. Most Census jobs pay $10 to $25 per hour, so they are a potential lifeline to the unemployed, particularly those whose unemployment insurance is running low. Congress has extended benefits for many jobless Americans, but that does not necessarily help people who have been out of work for more than a year.
A successful suit could also slow the Census process which is essential to determining the amount of government aid given to cities and states. The need for that money is particularly acute now. Census numbers are also sometimes used to redraw Congressional areas, sometimes putting incumbents at a disadvantage.
The most profound problem cause by the discrimination suit may have nothing to do with the law. If people who are asked to participate in the process believe that it is a fixed game for hiring, they may believe that it is fixed for data collection as well. The Census process is hard enough without discrimination charges keeping some people from being accurately counted because they don’t want to be.
If the suit is won, it will cast not just the Census Bureau in a bad light. It will raise the issue among many citizens of whether federal hiring is done fairly.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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