Working Woman

I really did enjoy working for the US Census in 2020.  I love talking to people so the part time job as a census worker was a natural fit for me.  When I got an email saying that the Census Bureau was looking for part time workers, I decided to apply and I got the job.  

What does a Census worker do in the years between the decennial census? Well, collect information on employment and unemployment, health, crime, education, consumer spending and much more.    The particular survey I will be working on is called the Current Population Survey. Each month, during the week of the 19th, I will be asking carefully selected households about their employment, hours of work, earnings and other demographic and labor force characteristics.  The "unemployment" report that you hear about in the news at the first of each month comes from the survey I will be involved with.

Before I could start work,  I spent a week in training in Burbank.  First time I have even flown into Bob Hope Airport.  Much nicer to fly into this small regional airport than into LAX!

The foothills around Burbank actually look a lot like our foothills.

Except for the palm trees!  

All week the Californians apologized for the hot weather, noting how hard it must be on Idahoans.  We had to tell them that it was 10 degrees hotter in Boise right now.  There is a heat wave with 'dangerous' temperatures every day.

I spent the next 4 days, 8 hours a day in class learning all I would need to know to use the laptop to record and transmit responses; encourage participation and work with my team.  

I was glad to find out that my 'old brain' can learn new tricks!

The government rents office space from one of Netflix's beautiful buildings.

It was their 'animated division'.

The whole week wasn't work and studying as I did get to watch some soccer games in the hotel lobby bar, including an Argentina game.  Fun!

I got back on Saturday and the 'survey' week started on Sunday.  

You receive 'cases' on your laptop that you are supposed to interview during the week.

Some challenging cases, some easy and cooperative.

Truthfully, I still believe that the number of 'nice' people far outweighs the number of 'not so nice' people.

I come home exhausted every evening.  The 100+ temps don't help.

I am really glad that I'll only be working about 9 days a month.

And I have a new appreciation for full time working moms.

How do they do it?