United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1999-12-14 monographic deposited born digital 44 p. GA 1.13:GGD-00-6 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6 P0b002ee180392b91 f:gg00006 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6 GGD-00-6 Census Vital records Population statistics Cost analysis Mailing lists Surveys Statistical data Government information dissemination Communication Labor supply Census Bureau Complete Count Committee Program 2000 Decennial Census Letter Report GGD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Year 2000 census, focusing on: (1) the need to boost the declining level of public participation in the census; and (2) the Census Bureau's need to collect timely and accurate data from nonrespondents.<p/>GAO noted: (1) with less than 4 months remaining until Census Day, significant operational uncertainties continue to surround the Bureau's efforts to increase participation in the census and to collect timely and accurate field data from nonrespondents; (2) key to a successful census is the level of public participation, as measured by the questionnaire mail response rate; (3) however, the response rate has been declining since 1970, in part because of various demographic and attitudinal factors, such as more complex housing arrangements and public mistrust of government; (4) based on the 1998 dress rehearsal for the 2000 Census, the Bureau estimates a 61-percent mail response rate in 2000; (5) however, this goal may be optimistic because: (a) a key ingredient of the dress rehearsal mail response rate - a second "replacement" questionnaire - will not be used in 2000 because the Bureau is concerned that the questionnaire could confuse recipients, which could lead to duplicate responses, and (b) while the Bureau has instituted an extensive outreach and promotion effort to help it achieve its desired response rate, dress rehearsal results suggest the Bureau still has not resolved the long-standing challenge of motivating public participation in the census; (6) the Bureau's ability to complete its field operations on time without compromising data quality is another significant risk to a successful census; (7) past experience has shown that following up on nonresponding households is one of the most error-prone and costly of all census-taking activities, requiring the Bureau to fill about 860,000 positions and recruit up to 3.5 million people; (8) even if the Bureau achieves its 61-percent mail response rate objective, it will have a nonresponse follow-up workload of 46 million housing units; (9) to complete this workload in the 10-week time frame that the Bureau has allocated, it will need to close an average of 657,000 cases every day; (10) however, a lower-than-expected mail response rate, difficulties in recruiting a sufficient number of workers in a tight labor market, and a variety of other factors, could undermine the Bureau's efforts and result in higher costs and less accurate data; and (11) while the Bureau has established post-census coverage improvement procedures to improve the accuracy of the 2000 Census data, these procedures are similar to 1990 methods that had limited success. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6.pdf GAO/GGD-00-6 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-00-6 Letter Report GAO/GGD-00-6; 2000 Census: Contingency Planning Needed to Address Risks; Census Vital records Population statistics Cost analysis Mailing lists Surveys Statistical data Government information dissemination Communication Labor supply Census Bureau Complete Count Committee Program 2000 Decennial Census Title 5 Section 5532 Title 5 Section 8344 Title 5 Section 8468 5 U.S.C. 5532 5 U.S.C. 8344 5 U.S.C. 8468 Title 13 Section 24 13 U.S.C. 24 Public Law 106-58 Public Law 106-65