Census calling on Kaua‘i

LIHU‘E — Residents may be puzzled as to why Census workers are knocking on their doors — three years after the last decennial count, and seven years until the next one.

Two basic Census Bureau surveys are the American Community Survey and the Community Population Survey. Participants respond quarterly for two consecutive years to household questions in one and employment or job search information in the other.

Of concern to Census workers is that residents unaware of the survey or its purpose may fear taking part or withhold information, said Gene Henry, a U.S. Census Bureau field representative working in Hawai‘i out of the Los Angeles Regional Office.

“The government is not spying, but it is trying to get responses so that it can better govern,” Henry said. “If people are not responding then they are governing themselves.”

The surveys are used in part for community planning. The data helps determine how state and federal funds are distributed each year.

The data is also used by state and federal agencies. Programs are developed based on the a number of factors, including age, gender, race, income, health insurance, education and cost of living.

The questionnaires are sent to a given address, but if that person has moved then the form goes to the current occupant, Henry said.

“We send an agent out to interview that person, whoever is the occupant of that residence,” Henry said.

The residents are selected based on information from the Census. The survey has identified them by income or other variables as a sample of around 2,000 residents in a similar status.

“The small population of Kaua‘i makes it possible that everyone will eventually be selected,” Henry said. “Unlike New York City where you could go your entire life and not be selected.”

If there is no response by mail or by door knocking, the form is then sent via FedEx prior to another visit, he said. It is frustrating for everyone involved when survey workers spend up to 10 hours trying to contact someone for an interview than takes less than 45 minutes, he said.

“We need to connect because we are required to do these things by law,” Henry said.

The line of questioning of each survey differs after the replies to the basic questions, Henry said. The follow-up questions depend answers to previous questions.

Henry said complete, accurate responses will provide the data that agencies use to determine funding levels for everything from health and human services programs to block grants and public schools. If there are essential needs, they will be funded, he said, and the survey may mean the difference between grants or raising taxes.

The monthly federal labor statistics are based in part on Census surveys, Henry said. The unemployment figures cover payroll and job search information that all comes out of the surveys.

As a retiree, Henry said that working part time as an agent provides him with supplemental income but no benefits. He said the work is rewarding because it matters and it benefits the community.

The statistics also aid individuals who research occupation salary levels against the cost-of-living for a given locality, he said.

If there are questions that people do not like, whether income, health,  household, he said they may just initial the questionnaire and they don’t have to provide their full names.

“Everyone is taken off guard when we start talking about income,” he said.

In addition to the mid-decade Census of population, unemployment and housing, the Census Bureau accumulates quarterly financial statistics and conducts smaller demographic and economic surveys for statistical bureaus of the Departments of Justice, Labor, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Health, the Social Security Administration, and even the National Science Foundation.

• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0424 or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.