The U.S. Census Bureau announced last week that 30 percent of the roughly 42 million households that did not return a census form before mid-April have cooperated and been counted by one of the 460,000 census takers during the second phase of Census 2000.
Speaking before the Committee on National Statistics meeting in Washington last week, William G. Barron, Jr., deputy director, the U.S. Census Bureau said he is “very pleased with the progress to date of the enumeration phase of the census.” The National Committee on Statistics is a private, professional group of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.
The National Research Council has been monitoring and advising on Census 2000 during most of the last decade.
The Bureau has scheduled an average of 10 weeks to complete the nonresponse workload. Last week’s report reflected enumeration results through May 11, or the first week and a half of the 10-week process.
“There remain significant challenges ahead in the next eight weeks, but the census continues to be running very well and all operations are meeting or exceeding our expectations,” Barron said.
Barron also told the government and private sector statisticians assembled in Washington that “Census 2000 looks more and more like an operational success story.”
