Problems in Test Censuses Cause Concern for 1980 Census

The 1980 Decennial Census, now underway, affects the distribution of seats in Congress and the disbursement of billions of dollars. Questions have arisen concerning the Census Bureau's low mail response rate in the last test census and the Bureau's experience with temporary personnel in the test censuses and its plans for them in the current census. Bureau records examined on the test censuses included progress reports, correspondence, operations manuals, and budgets. Bureau officials were interviewed to obtain the views of emumerators who worked on the Lower Manhattan test census. The analysis of enumerator productivity in the test censuses was restricted by data limitations, such as the lack of records on the number of enumerators who were paid the minimum rate, composite payroll information on the tests, hours worked, and the number of persons working as reported on test census progress reports.