Census 2000: Stand Up and Be Counted
By William Lucy
The year 2000 is significant not just because it provides the excuse for the party of the century, but also because it marks the time for our next national census. And while the Y2K bug may not impact all of us, the census certainly will.
The United States Census is a constitutionally required count of all the people living in the nation. It takes place every 10 years and represents the largest peace-time mobilization of personnel in the history of the U.S. government.
But the census is far more than a meaningless bureaucratic exercise. It has a massive impact on all of us and the way we live. Census data forms the basis for formulas used to allocate $180 billion in federal funding every year. It is also used to distribute our 435 U.S. congressional seats. States with a higher population have more congressional seats. A state could gain or lose a congressional district, and the powerful vote that goes along with it, depending on the census outcome.
American workers have a tremendous stake in the outcome of the next census. The physical infrastructure of the United States in the 21st century — including roads, bridges, water/sewer systems, office parks and schools — will be based on the numbers that come from Census 2000. Capital construction and economic development projects that provide thousands of jobs could be given the green light or stalled indefinitely, depending on census data.
Because of its enormous impact on all of us, Census 2000 has become a priority issue for AFSCME. Our goal is simple: to ensure the most accurate census possible, using the most up-to-date scientific methods.
Accuracy has been a big problem for the census in past years. The 1990 census missed more than 8 million people and double counted more than 4 million. This miscount resulted in a diminished political voice for a significant sector of the population, as well as billions of dollars in lost federal funding.
Who do you think was undercounted? Was it CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations or those in the top 5 percent of the income bracket? Not on your life. Those undercounted were disproportionately minority, low-income and children.
In 1990, African Americans were undercounted by 4.4 percent, Hispanics by 5 percent and Native Americans by 4.5 percent. Of those 8 million individuals who were not counted, more than half were children. This omission costs us all. The Council of Great City Schools estimates that each child not counted in the census costs $650 per year in missed federal funds to the school charged with educating that child.
A method, known as sampling, was endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences as showing the most potential for getting an accurate census count. Both the Bush and Clinton Administrations concluded that the Constitution allows for this type of statistical method. You would think that sampling would not be politically controversial, yet it has become just that.
In 1997, the chair of the Republican National Committee sent a letter to all his state party chairs warning against the use of sampling. Conservatives in this country have gone on the warpath against this method as if they have something to lose — and they do. If the political voice of all Americans is empowered to its full extent, then those who will lose will be the elected officials who have neither cared about nor spoken for the interests of all Americans. And when that level of empowerment is reached, a new political day will dawn in America.
AFSCME is at the forefront in preparing for Census 2000. We are working to ensure that Census 2000 will be the most accurate ever and that we will finally all count where it really matters — in the political representation and the fair allocation of funds that is every American’s due.
