2010 Census: Diversity in Human Capital, Outreach Efforts Can Benefit the 2010 Census
Released: 2007-07-26T00:00:00

Letter

Background

The decennial census is conducted against a backdrop of immutable deadlines. The census’s elaborate chain of interrelated pre- and post- Census Day activities is predicated upon those dates. To meet these mandated reporting requirements, census activities must occur at specific times and in the proper sequence. The Secretary of Commerce is legally required to (1) conduct the census on April 1 of the decennial year, (2) report the state population counts to the President for purposes of congressional apportionment by December 31 of the decennial year, and (3) send population tabulations to the states for purposes of redistricting no later than 1 year after the April 1 census date.

For the decennial census, the vast majority of housing units will receive paper, mailback census questionnaires delivered by mail or by census field workers before April 1, 2010. This requires a complete and accurate address list. The inventory of housing units is obtained from several sources including files from the U.S. Postal Service, partnerships established with local entities, and the Bureau’s address canvassing— where temporary field workers verify and identify the addresses of an estimated 130 million housing units over the course of about 6 weeks in 2009. When housing units do not respond to questionnaires by a certain deadline, temporary field workers will follow up and collect census data through personal interviews during the nonresponse follow-up operation, which accounts for the largest single component of the field data collection workload and budget. The Bureau estimates that nonresponse follow-up will include an estimated 39 million housing units over the course of 12 weeks in 2010. The Bureau also relies on special procedures to handle areas or living quarters that are not suitable for mailing or delivering census questionnaires, such as very remote areas in Alaska and prisons.

To gather census data, the Bureau opens temporary offices across the country for approximately 2 years, and all field staff employed in these offices are considered temporary, with jobs lasting as long as the entire 2- year period or as short as a few weeks, depending on the specific operation for which they are employed. For example, one could work on address canvassing, an early operation, and then be rehired again to work on the nonresponse follow-up operation later on in the decennial. To conduct its decennial activities, the Bureau recruits, hires, and trains temporary field workers based out of local census offices nationwide. During Census 2000, the Bureau hired about half a million temporary workers at peak, which temporarily made it one of the nation’s largest employers, surpassed by only a handful of big organizations, such as Wal- Mart and the U.S. Postal Service. For the 2010 Census, the Bureau expects to hire almost 75,000 temporary field workers—at a cost of over $350 million—during address canvassing in 2009 and almost 525,000 temporary field workers—at a cost of over $2 billion—for nonresponse follow-up in 2010. (See fig. 1.)

Implementing Diversity Management Practices Can Help Benefit the Bureau’s Current Workforce and Recruitment for the Decennial Census

High-performance organizations are inclusive, drawing on the strengths of employees at all levels and of all backgrounds. For the decennial census, having a diverse workforce is particularly important. For example, in its strategic plan, the Bureau notes that as the nation becomes more diverse, the Bureau’s staff must reflect the increasing diversity of the American population if they are to do their job well. In a related point, Bureau officials emphasize the need to recruit temporary field workers locally, because such staff are best able to relate to local residents and overcome any reluctance to participate in the census. In fact, the census, in many respects, is a local endeavor because the key ingredients of a successful population count, such as a complete and accurate address list and timely and accurate field data collection, are carried out by the locally recruited temporary field staff—working in and around their respective neighborhoods—collecting data through various operations.

A high-performance organization relies on a dynamic workforce with the requisite talents, multidisciplinary knowledge, and up-to-date skills to ensure it can accomplish its goals and missions. As we have previously reported, such an organization fosters a work environment in which people are enabled and motivated to contribute to continuous learning and improvement as well as to accomplishing missions and goals. Such organizations promote accountability and fairness. Importantly, they take advantage of a workforce that is inclusive and utilizes the strengths and talents of employees at all levels and backgrounds. This work environment is consistent with the principles of “diversity management”—a process intended to create and maintain a positive work environment where individual similarities and differences are valued, so that all can reach their potential and maximize their contributions to the organization. As shown in table 1, in our previous work on diversity management, we identified 9 diversity management practices.

Perhaps the most important practice for diversity management is top leadership commitment, because leaders and managers must commit the time and necessary resources for the success of an organization’s diversity initiatives. Although all of these practices are important, today we discuss two of them as they relate to the Bureau: (1) succession planning—an ongoing, strategic process for identifying and developing a diverse pool of talent for an organizations’ potential future leaders—and (2) recruitment for the Bureau’s temporary field work—the process of attracting qualified, diverse applicants for employment which is important for maintaining high performance.

Succession Planning for Senior Managers

As we have testified earlier, the federal government is facing new and more complex challenges in the 21st century because of long-term fiscal constraints, changing demographics, and other factors. The federal Senior Executive Service (SES), which generally represents the most experienced and senior segment of the federal workforce, is critical to providing the strategic leadership needed to effectively meet these challenges. Governmentwide, SES retirement eligibility is much higher than the workforce in general, and a significant number of SES retirements could result in a loss of leadership continuity, institutional knowledge, and expertise among the SES corps.

We have previously reported that the Bureau needs to strategically manage its human capital to meet future requirements. For example, three senior census executives left the Bureau after the 2000 Census; in the years ahead, other key employees will become eligible for retirement. According to the Bureau’s strategic plan, about 45 percent of the Bureau's current permanent employees will be eligible for regular or early retirement by 2010. Thus, human capital is a key planning area for ensuring that the Bureau has the skill mix necessary to meet its future staffing requirements.

Racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the federal government’s senior ranks can be a key organizational component for executing agency missions, ensuring accountability to the American people in the administration and operation of federal programs, and achieving results. Based on previous work identifying diversity in the federal SES corps, we compared diversity at the Bureau’s senior levels with that of the Department of Commerce and the executive branch governmentwide.

Also, because the vast majority of SES personnel is drawn from an agency’s pool of GS-14s and GS-15s, we also compared the diversity of the Bureau’s SES developmental pool with that of the Department of Commerce and other executive branch agencies governmentwide. (See table 2.)

Overall, we found that the Bureau’s leadership ranks are about as diverse as the leadership ranks for the federal government as a whole, with higher minority representation and lower representation of women. Diversity in the federal government’s senior leadership and developmental pools are important to developing and maintaining a high-quality and inclusive workforce. Succession planning also is tied to the federal government’s opportunity to change the diversity of the SES corps through new appointments.

Recruiting for Temporary Decennial Workforce

The success of the 2010 Census depends, in part, upon the Bureau’s ability to recruit, hire, and train a very large temporary workforce that works for a very short period. Over the next several years the Bureau plans to recruit 3.8 million applicants and hire nearly 600,000 temporary field staff from that applicant pool for two key operations: address canvassing and nonresponse follow-up. For the 2010 Census the Bureau plans to use a recruiting and hiring approach like the one it used in 2000.

For the 2000 Census, the Bureau used an aggressive recruitment strategy in partnership with state, local, and tribal governments, community groups, and other organizations to help recruit employees and obtained exemptions from the majority of state governments so that individuals receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Medicaid, and selected other types of public assistance would not have their benefits reduced when earning census income, thus making census jobs more attractive. Further, the Bureau used a recruitment advertising campaign, totaling over $2.3 million, which variously emphasized the ability to earn good pay, work flexible hours, learn new skills, and do something important for one’s community. Moreover, the advertisements were in a variety of languages to attract different ethnic groups, and were also targeted to different races, senior citizens, retirees, and people seeking part-time employment. The Bureau also advertised using traditional outlets such as newspaper classified sections, as well as more novel media including Internet banners and messages on utility and credit card bills.

Through its local census offices, the Bureau plans to recruit, hire, and deploy a diverse workforce that looks like and can relate to the people being counted. Local census offices will open for the 2010 Census in October 2008. The Bureau has developed a Planning Database that local and regional offices use to prepare recruiting plans. The Bureau expects those offices to use the database to identify areas where field staff are more difficult to recruit and other areas where certain skills—such as foreign language abilities—are needed. The Bureau will update the Planning Database for every census tract in the United States for the 2010 Census, using many variables from Census 2000. These variables include: Census 2000 mail return rates; household size; median household income; percentage of persons living in poverty; number of single person households; highest level of education achieved; percentage of linguistically isolated households (i.e., where no person 14 or over speaks English at least “very well”); and percentage of persons on public assistance.

One of the Bureau’s approaches to recruiting and hiring is ensuring that it recruits and hires a sufficient number of field staff. For the 2000 Census the Bureau recruited 5 times the number of persons that it hired, and hired twice the number of persons that it expects to need. We recommended that the Bureau consider a more targeted approach. For example, the Bureau could analyze the factors, such as education and work status, for employees more likely to be successful at census work and less likely to leave during an operation. The Bureau questioned the need for taking action, noting that its priority is to reach out as broadly as possible to the diverse communities in the country, because in order to have hundreds of thousands of temporary workers, it must attract several million applicants. We agree that the Bureau’s recruiting approach should be designed to ensure it selects a sufficient number of persons to complete the census; however, we do not believe the Bureau has identified the factors most likely to predict applicants’ success and that are incorporated in selection tools and procedures. Our recommendation calls for a fact-based approach to developing selection tools so that the Bureau could target recruitment to applicants who are not only more likely to perform well but also to continue throughout an operation. Recruiting such applicants could help reduce operational costs as well as recruiting and hiring expenditures by decreasing the need to recruit and hire additional workers. Likewise, such an approach can be undertaken while continuing to attract a diverse workforce.

Collaborative Partnership Efforts with Diverse Communities Can Benefit the Decennial Census

Collaboration can be broadly defined as any joint activity that is intended to produce more public value than could be produced when the organization acts alone. We have previously reported on several best practices that can enhance and sustain collaborative efforts. These include (1) establishing mutually reinforcing or joint strategies and (2) identifying and addressing needs by leveraging resources. For example, critical decennial tasks, such as building public awareness of the census, motivating people to respond, and locating pockets of hard-to-count population groups, are accomplished in large part by partnerships between the Bureau and local governments and community groups. To leverage visibility, the Bureau also used partnerships with national organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Congress of American Indians, and the American Association of Retired Persons.

In a recent field hearing, held by this subcommittee in San Antonio, Texas on July 9, 2007, leaders of several national organizations called on the Bureau to continue its efforts to ameliorate factors such as apathy, fear, and distrust of government through continued partnerships for the 2010 Census. Leaders noted that within historically hard-to-enumerate communities these issues are best addressed by trusted individuals, institutions, and organizations. Consequently, these organizations’ leaders believe that the significance and positive impact of partner and stakeholder networks to a community mobilization effort is critical to a region’s success and to the overall success of the census. The Bureau also has met periodically with advisory committees representing minority populations to help ensure a complete and accurate census.

To take a more complete and accurate count of the nation’s population in Census 2000, the Bureau partnered with other federal agencies, as well as with state, local and tribal governments; religious, community, and social service organizations; and private businesses. In previous work we found that to coordinate local partners’ efforts, the Bureau encouraged government entities to form Complete Count Committees, which were to be made up of representatives from various local groups. According to the Bureau, about 140,000 organizations participated in its partnership program, assisting in such critical activities as reviewing and updating the Bureau’s address list; encouraging people—especially hard-to-count populations—to participate in the census; and recruiting temporary census workers. The program stemmed from the Bureau’s recognition that a successful head count required the local knowledge, experience, and expertise that these organizations provide. While we concluded that it is quite likely that the key census-taking activities, such as recruiting temporary census workers and encouraging people to complete their questionnaires would have been less successful had it not been for the Bureau’s aggressive partnership efforts, we also recommended that the Bureau take steps to make the partnership program more accountable and performance-oriented. The Bureau expects the program will play a key role in the 2010 Census. However, the Bureau’s fiscal year 2008 budget request does not include funds for the regional partnership program. In contrast the Bureau received $5.7 million for the regional partnership program in 1998.

One of the means by which the Bureau plans for increasing response rates is an advertising and outreach campaign to promote the census. In Census 2000, the Bureau first used a paid advertising campaign to create and produce an advertising campaign to inform and motivate the public to complete and return the census form by using a variety of media to stress the message that participating in the census benefits one’s community. For Census 2000, the Bureau spent about $167 million on the paid advertising campaign and a substantial portion of the advertising was directed at minority groups. For the 2010 Census, the Bureau is currently in the process of considering proposals for a similar effort. In its Request for Proposals, the Bureau required that the contractor establish goals for subcontracting with firms that are, for example, small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned, veteran-owned, or are Historically Underutilized Business Zone companies. The Bureau also included in the solicitation a requirement that the contractor have expertise and experience in marketing to historically undercounted populations, such as African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, American Indian and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Bureau expects to award this communication campaign contract in September 2007.

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau will continue a program first implemented for Census 2000 in which it partners with local, state, and tribal governments. The program, the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) allows participants to contribute to complete enumeration of their jurisdictions by reviewing, commenting on, and providing updated information on the list of addresses and maps that the Bureau will use to deliver questionnaires within those communities. The Bureau has taken steps to improve LUCA for 2010. For example, to reduce participant workload and burden, the Bureau will provide a longer period for reviewing and updating LUCA materials—from 90 to 120 days. However, we recently testified before this subcommittee that the Bureau could do more to mitigate possible difficulties that participants may have with the new LUCA software and training and to help participants convert Bureau- provided address files into their own software format.

Efforts to Contract with Small Business

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau is making the most extensive use of contractors in its history, turning to the private sector to supply a number of different mission-critical functions and technologies. In awarding and administering its contracts related to the 2010 Census, the Bureau will need to be mindful of its obligations to promote contracting opportunities for various categories of contractors, such as small businesses, women- owned businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, and others. In this regard, the Small Business Act contains an annual governmentwide goal for small business participation of not less than 23 percent of the total value of all prime contract awards. To achieve this governmentwide goal, the Small Business Administration negotiates annual small business contracting goals with each federal executive agency. For the Department of Commerce, the contracting goals are summarized in table 3.

In terms of subcontracting, any business that receives a contract directly from a federal executive agency for more than $100,000 must agree to give small businesses the “maximum practicable opportunity to participate in the contract consistent with its efficient performance.” Additionally, for contracts that are generally anticipated to have a $550,000 threshold and have subcontracting possibilities, the prime contractor is required to have an established subcontracting plan, which promotes and supports small business development. For example, the solicitation for the advertising and outreach campaign requires that the contractor establish and adhere to a subcontracting plan that provides maximum practicable opportunity for small business participation in performing the contract. Contractors that do not meet subcontracting goals may face damages if the agency’s contracting officer determines that a contractor did not make a good-faith effort to comply with the subcontracting plan.

Mr. Chairman, as we have recently testified, the Bureau faces challenges to successfully implementing the 2010 Census including those of a demographic and socioeconomic nature due to the nation’s increasing diversity in language, ethnicity, households, and housing types, as well as a reluctance in the population to participate in the census. In fact, the Bureau recognizes that hiring a diverse workforce—especially a temporary field workforce—that is like the people that are being enumerated is one way of eliciting the cooperation of those being counted. The involvement of such a workforce in the key nonresponse follow-up activity can help to increase productivity and contain enumeration costs. Our review of data pertaining to the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of the Bureau’s upper-level management as well as the grades of those most likely to rise to that level of management shows that, the Bureau’s leadership ranks are generally as diverse as the federal government as a whole. Moreover, the Bureau’s strategy of recruiting temporary field staff locally is an important way of promoting a diverse field workforce that is like those being enumerated. In addition, the Bureau’s outreach and partnership programs can be an important way of eliciting the participation of communities that are often said to be undercounted or may be reluctant to participate in the decennial census. As in 2000, for 2010 the Bureau intends to use an integrated communications strategy, including advertising, that is carried out by contractors and subcontractors that have the expertise and experiences in marketing to historically undercounted populations. It will be important for the Bureau to build on its efforts to ensure an accurate and cost-effective census by maximizing the potential offered by a diverse workforce and by ensuring that its contractors perform as promised. We stand ready to assist this subcommittee in its oversight efforts.

This concludes my remarks. I will be glad to answer any questions that you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Turner, or other subcommittee Members may have.

Contact and Acknowledgements

For further information regarding this statement, please contact Mathew Scirè, Director, Strategic Issues on (202) 512-6806 or at sciremj@gao.gov. Individuals making key contributions to this statement included Betty Clark, Elizabeth Fan, Carlos Hazera, Belva Martin, Lisa Pearson, Rebecca Shea, Cheri Truett, Kiki Theodoropoulos, and William Woods.

Related GAO Products

2010 Census: Preparations for the 2010 Census Underway, but Continued Oversight and Risk Management Are Critical. GAO-07-1106T Washington, D.C: July 17, 2007. 2010 Census: Census Bureau Is Making Progress on the Local Update of Census Addresses Program, but Improvements Are Needed. GAO-07- 1063T. Washington, D.C.: June 26, 2007. 2010 Census: Census Bureau Has Improved the Local Update of Census Addresses Program, but Challenges Remain. GAO-07-736. Washington, D.C.: June 14, 2007.

Human Capital: Diversity in the Federal SES and the Senior Levels of the U.S. Postal Service. GAO-07-838T. Washington, D.C.: May 10, 2007. 2010 Census: Census Bureau Should Refine Recruiting and Hiring Efforts and Enhance Training of Temporary Field Staff. GAO-07-361. Washington, D.C.: April 27, 2007. 2010 Census: Design Shows Progress, but Managing Technology Acquisitions, Temporary Field Staff, and Gulf Region Enumeration Require Attention. GAO-07-779T. Washington, D.C.: April 24, 2007. 2010 Census: Redesigned Approach Holds Promise, but Census Bureau Needs to Annually Develop and Provide a Comprehensive Project Plan to Monitor Costs. GAO-06-1009T. Washington, D.C.: July 27, 2006. 2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs to Take Prompt Actions to Resolve Long-standing and Emerging Address and Mapping Challenges. GAO-06- 272. Washington, D.C.: June 15, 2006. 2010 Census: Costs and Risks Must be Closely Monitored and Evaluated with Mitigation Plans in Place. GAO-06-822T. Washington, D.C.: June 6, 2006. 2010 Census: Census Bureau Generally Follows Selected Leading Acquisition Planning Practices, but Continued Management Attention Is Needed to Help Ensure Success. GAO-06-277. Washington, D.C.: May 18, 2006.

Census Bureau: Important Activities for Improving Management of Key 2010 Decennial Acquisitions Remain to be Done. GAO-06-444T. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006. 2010 Census: Planning and Testing Activities Are Making Progress. GAO-06-465T. Washington, D.C.: March 1, 2006.

Results Oriented-Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain Collaboration among Federal Agencies. GAO-06-15. Washington, D.C.: October 21, 2005.

Information Technology Management: Census Bureau Has Implemented Many Key Practices, but Additional Actions Are Needed. GAO-05-661. Washington, D.C.: June 16, 2005.

Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices and Agency Examples. GAO-05-90. Washington, D.C.: January 14, 2005. 2010 Census: Basic Design Has Potential, but Remaining Challenges Need Prompt Resolution. GAO-05-9. Washington, D.C.: January 12, 2005.

Data Quality: Census Bureau Needs to Accelerate Efforts to Develop and Implement Data Quality Review Standards. GAO-05-86. Washington, D.C.: November 17, 2004.

Census 2000: Design Choices Contributed to Inaccuracy of Coverage Evaluation Estimates. GAO-05-71. Washington, D.C.: November 12, 2004.

American Community Survey: Key Unresolved Issues. GAO-05-82. Washington, D.C.: October 8, 2004. 2010 Census: Counting Americans Overseas as Part of the Decennial Census Would Not Be Cost-Effective. GAO-04-898. Washington, D.C.: August 19, 2004. 2010 Census: Overseas Enumeration Test Raises Need for Clear Policy Direction. GAO-04-470. Washington, D.C.: May 21, 2004. 2010 Census: Cost and Design Issues Need to Be Addressed Soon. GAO- 04-37. Washington, D.C.: January 15, 2004.

Decennial Census: Lessons Learned for Locating and Counting Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers. GAO-03-605. Washington, D.C.: July 3, 2003.

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Hispanic Subgroup Data Need Refinement. GAO-03-228. Washington, D.C.: January 17, 2003.

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Data on the Homeless and Others without Conventional Housing Need Refinement. GAO-03-227. Washington, D.C.: January 17, 2003. 2000 Census: Lessons Learned for Planning a More Cost-Effective 2010 Census. GAO-03-40. Washington, D.C.: October 31, 2002.

The American Community Survey: Accuracy and Timeliness Issues. GAO-02-956R. Washington, D.C.: September 30, 2002. 2000 Census: Review of Partnership Program Highlights Best Practices for Future Operations. GAO-01-579. Washington, D.C.: August 20, 2001. 2000 Census: Answers to Hearing Questions on the Status of Key Operations. GGD-00-109R, Washington, D.C.: May 31, 2000.

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