One of the problems with the census is the way it counts prison inmates.

The census was originated to simply count voters to insure that each state received accurate representation in the House of Representatives.

Felons lose their right to vote, yet prison inmates are routinely sent census forms and currently they are counted by the U.S. Census Bureau as being residents of the area in which the prison is located. A city or town that has several hundred to a few thousand residents but also has a correctional facility population of several hundred to several thousand is inaccurately represented in the House.

The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics stated in June of 2002 that the prison system population topped 2 million. That's one in every one hundred forty-five citizens. That's 2 million census forms that are inaccurately filled out, skewing that state's, and the prisoner's home state's, representation in the House of Representatives.

www.censusthis.com

I am a Medical Coding & Compliance Consultant and the last six months have seen my business activities fall-off, although I have several contractual prospects that I hope will come to fruition as the economy improves.

Considering another option back in December of 2008 or January of 2009, I took the Census Qualifiying Exam and made a passing grade of 96%

Finally, on April the 16th a local representative from the Census contacted me contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in attending a 5 4 day training class for "Address Canvassers" with a promise that at least 8 weeks of full-time work would follow.

Beginning of the 24th of April, I began the course, along with 14 or 15 other potential employees and an similar class of 15 or 16 people who were being concurrently trained as "Quality Assurance" workers.

When the class ended on the following Wednesday, after everyone had taken their final examination,(93%, my score) we were informed that the project was winding down and that we would be lucky to get more than a single day of work. Indeed, several members of my class met with the existing area supervisors on April 30, worked in the field for several hours and because we didn't have enough hours left to allow us to go back out after lunch, we turned in our hand-held computers and supplies and were told that there may be more work someday in the future.

There is something very wrong when you consider that these hand-held computers are going to be destroyed and that many of the workers who have qualified and have been sworn and trained will probably tell the Census to Take-A-Walk when asked again to work for them.

I figure that at $12.75 an hour, plus $.55 per mile to and from the training site, that the Government squandered more than $18,000 to train this group, not to mention the goofy way that the training is conduced and that if any of these people again work for the Census, they will also have to be trained again to do the next phase of work.

Not much about what our Goverment has been and is capable of doing against its own people during the last decade or so suprises me, but I am disappointed that the Obama administration might allow this kind of wast to happen.

I too took the test and qualified. I was called and offered an "oral contract" to work 40 hours a week for 8 weeks at $11.00 an hour. We completed training and began our address canvassing. 3 weeks into the project our Local Census Office decided that we needed to get it done in 4 weeks. 3 weeks in we were at 50% completion. To do another 50% in just one week would be impossible. No explanation for this change was given. At the end of 4 weeks, we were told we were through because Field Operations Manager sent people from outside our local area to complete the work that we were hired to do. They traveled at a minimum of 160 miles a day to reach an area where local people had only to travel 60 to 80 miles a day. Not to mention because we are a very rural area, they sent their people in pairs so not only were we paying $11.00 per hour for 2 people = $22.00 an hour but some people were claiming mileage of 342 miles a day which is impossible given that the areas they were working were in the mountains and you were lucky to do 5 to 10 mph due to road conditions. We were basically cheated out of our contract to work for 8 weeks. It would be interesting to see what the legal minds have to say about standing by an "oral contract." To be a valid "oral contract", it has to meet 3 conditions. There must be an offer - there must be acceptance- and you must be compensated. Our contract meets all three. Taxpayer dollars are being thrown out the window not to mention that these people from outside our area did not know who lived where. When they came to a locked gate (there are many in our area), they said if they could not see a house then no one lived behind that gate. In one instance there were 8 homes behind that locked gate. They were also map spotting 100' or more from the end of every driveway. One of these listers said he did 168 houses in a day. Impossible. If you knock on the door, introduce yourself, explain what you are doing, answer any questions and then map spot the house, it takes at least 7 to 10 min. 10 very hard working people who were dedicated to seeing that our county was counted accurately were thrown down the drain.

Kay,
Although this makes no difference ultimately, you are not quite right about the essentials of a contract. It does require an offer and acceptance, but not "compensation." A contract requires consideration. In your case, you promised to work for them and they promised to pay you, so there was a mutuality of obligation. In essence, the consideration was the promises that were made. It would be very hard for you to succeed in suing them, not because the contract was oral--it's still valid but you have an evidentiary problem--but because you would probably still be classified as an at-will employee, meaning they can fire you for any reason, or no reason at all.