Thousands of Census 2020 workers still needed in Western Pa.

Western Pennsylvania still is in need of thousands of more part-time census workers as federal officials and their local partners prepare Census 2020 submissions to begin next month.

Allegheny County initially struggled to fill 9,000 positions, with only about 4,500 temporary workers hired as of late December.

Officials have seen a sharp spike since hiking pay rates by 27%, from around $18.50, up to $21 per hour and $23 per hour at the beginning of January, U.S. Deputy Commerce Secretary Karen Dunn Kelley said.

More than 7,000 temporary census workers now have been hired in Allegheny County, with more than 1,500 spots remaining.

Applicants will continue to be accepted through the end of February, with hundreds more available positions across Westmoreland, Butler, Armstrong, Beaver and Washington counties.

“With the kind of momentum we have, I am very, very confident that we are not only going to reach but exceed our goals,” Kelley told a group of several dozen local public officials, nonprofit and faith-based leaders and business and community advocates Friday afternoon during the opening of the county’s Census 2020 headquarters. The office is housed in PPG Place in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Initially, workers in Westmoreland County were set to make $16 per hour, which has since been raised to $18.50. Available positions include field services, census takers and clerical work.

Planning has been in the works for more than two years for Census 2020, a 10-question household survey that determines everything from federal funding for housing and human services programs to each state’s number of congressional representatives.

The once-a-decade population count will impact policymaking, regional planning and how much public money flows into local communities for years.

“We want to do everything we can to prevent under-counts in the hard-to-count population, be that minority communities that don’t necessarily come forth to get counted, to transient communities,” Kelley said.

Statewide, as many as 19% of people are expected to not respond, according to the Pennsylvania State Data Center, a Census Bureau liaison. Those areas tend to be rural, have high poverty rates and populations of college students and children age 5 and under.

The age group that tends to be among the most under-counted is children under 4 years old, which could impact the amount of funding and resources communities get to help kids and young families.

In 2010, the Census is believed to have missed counting more than 2 million children.

“If you don’t get counted at 2 (years old), the next time you get counted is 12,” Kelley said. “You’ve gone from diapers to preteens, and there’s a world of difference and a world of opportunity they need from infrastructure to health to transportation.”

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said that after a half-century of population declines, “I am convinced that we are growing again, not just in the city of Pittsburgh but in Allegheny County. But we’ll only find that out if everybody gets counted.”

“I wish I had the same optimism as the county executive,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said. “I see a lot of apartments going up, I just don’t know that we’re there yet. But there would be nothing better to show this region.”

Next week, people can expect to see a lot advertisements rolling out regarding the census.

Starting March 12, every U.S. household will have the chance to participate in the Census 2020 via by phone, mail or — for the first time ever — via secured forms online.

Households that do not respond will be visited by census workers beginning in early May. All submissions are due by July 31.

After three mailer attempts without a response, the Census Bureau will send workers knocking on doors.

Those interested in a part-time job (no more than 30 hours a week with flexible schedules) can apply at 2020census.gov/jobs. CareerLink also has census positions posted on its website.