Stimulus boosted by temp Census jobs; applicants at all-time high

You'll have tough competition if you're looking to find work with the Census, reports Bloomberg News. And, the Census just might help boost the President's stimulus plan, since it will put a significant number of people to work immediately.

From the story:

The 2010 U.S. census may provide an extra kick to the U.S. economy, just as the effects of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus plan start to take hold.

The census will put more than 1.4 million people on the federal payroll over the next year, making it the largest peacetime government jobs program ever, according to the Census Bureau. The first 140,000 will start work in April. Most of the rest will be hired early in 2010.

The jobs, though temporary, may ease some of the pain in a labor market where almost 3 million have been put out of work in the last five months. The Census Bureau will spend about half its $14 billion budget for the 2010 headcount on personnel, including jobs that pay $10 to $25 an hour and last several weeks to several months.

“From a timing standpoint you couldn’t do better,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financial in New York. “You’re adding workers at a time when we need anything we can get to offset the weakness in payrolls.”

The search for census takers before the last headcount, in 2000, strained a tight job market. That’s hardly a problem this time around, with unemployment at a 25-year high of 8.1 percent and economists forecasting the rate will average 9 percent next year. Already the Census Bureau has more than 900,000 applicants for the jobs to be filled in April, or more than six applications for every opening.

“This is probably the most successful recruiting we’ve had in the last four censuses,” said Marilia Matos, the Census Bureau’s associate director for field operations. “Many people are looking for work.”