Ongoing Issues with the Census

1. Ongoing Issues with the Census • Despite the very high quality of the data and the Census Bureau’s decades of experience in completing this exercise, there are still major issues surrounding the Census. • These include: 1) Census Accuracy 2) Capturing Attributes Correctly 3) Political context 4) Future of the Long Form

2. Ongoing Issues with the Census

3. Census Accuracy • Despite spending over $5 billion (yes Billion) on the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau readily admits that it did not complete a full enumeration of the nation’s population. • For example, in 1990 it is estimated that the Census missed over 4 million people. Why? • Difficult to count populations: --Homeless --Immigrants --Central city populations • Low response rateto census survey (67% in ’00, 65% in ’90, 75% in ‘80) • Errors in Census data inputs (boundaries, geocoding, coverage errors) For example, for the 2000 census, the CB mistakenly located a prison with 1,228 inmates that is in Gulf County in Franklin County. Consequently, the CB issued a CQR (Count Question Resolution) that counted the 1,228 inmates in the correct county. However, while the totals for each county are now correct, the underlying SF1 and SF3 data have not been updated.

4. Capturing Attributes Correctly • For each Census the CB comes under fire from different groups for how they capture certain population attributes, especially: --Race --Ethnicity --Occupation • Race: For the first time in 2000, the census allowed individuals to pick several races to reflect their racial make-up. This has generally been considered to be a major step in the right direction in capturing race accurately. • Ethnicity: The Bureau routinely comes under for for only capturing “Hispanic” under the category of ethnicity. Many other groups argue that they are an ethnic minority (Italians, Slovakians, etc.). The only place this data are captured are in a “long form” question on Ancestry. • Occupation: The 2000 census used a new coding system (NAICS) that was implemented in 1997. It is generally held that this coding system more accurately captures the occupations of workers in the United States.

5. Political Context • To Sample or Not to Sample: Throughout the 1990s, Congress argued about whether to allow the Census Bureau to use sampling procedures to determine hard-to-count inner city populations. • Sampling: A statistical procedure that centers upon sampling the population and then inferring from this sample the total population in the country (and the characteristics of this population). • The debate was largely a political one:Republicans  Against Democrats  For • The Argument Against: The Constitution calls for an “enumeration” (count) of the population every ten years. • The Argument For: We know that when we enumerate we miss lots of people, especially people of color and people of lower socioeconomic status. • The Verdict: Sampling was not used for the 2000 Census • The Big Point: The Census is more than simply gathering data; it is intertwined with political power and resource allocation.

6. Future of the Long Form • Due to the skyrocketing costs of the Census, Congress has looked to changes that would save money. One major new initiative: Discontinuation of the Long Form and replacing it with the American Community Survey (ACS) • The ACS will produce updated yearly estimates for all communities, eliminating the need for a traditional long form in the 2010 census and beyond. • Starting in year one, the ACS will provide estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics every year for all states, as well as for all cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and population groups of 65,000 people or more. • For smaller areas it will take three to five years to accumulate a sufficient sample to produce data for areas as small as census tracts. • For more ACS info see: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/