Census to close six offices, cut costs

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

The U.S. Census Bureau will close half of its 12 regional offices in a cost-cutting measure, the agency announced Tuesday.

None of approximately 7,200 field workers who collect vital statistics on individual households and the economy will lose their jobs, said Robert M. Groves, the Census Bureau director.

But about 330 employees — mostly supervisors, including six regional directors — will be affected. Some will work from their homes, others will relocate, and some are expected to retire, Groves said. By the time all six offices close at the end of 2012, the Census Bureau will trim 115 to 130 positions from a workforce of 15,000.

The cuts are expected to save $15 million to $18 million a year, the bulk of it in salaries and $3 million in rent. The Census Bureau has come under increasing pressure to cut costs before the 2020 Census, which will have some kind of Internet option.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/census-to-close-six-offices-cut-costs/2011/06/29/AG4rTGrH_story.html

[Tiggeroshii]

1. This will TOTALLY help the unemployment rate..

you know, by blatantly making more people unemployed :eyes:

[David Gill]

2. Standard?

Is this a regular thing that happens in the year after a census is released?

[gkhouston]

3. No. I believe these are the regional offices which always exist

for the purposes of coordinating the data collected by the American Community Survey. That's the looooong form census questionnaire that only a handful of people get and it's sent out annually. The other Census offices closed several months ago.