The U.S. Census Bureau today announced that San Joaquin County, Calif., is one of two sites in the nation chosen to participate in a dress rehearsal for the 2010 Census.

The dress rehearsal also will bring approximately 1,750 temporary jobs and provide residents of the San Joaquin County area an opportunity to participate in an event that will help the Census Bureau produce more accurate counts of the people and housing units in their community and across the nation in 2010.

The dress rehearsal, to be conducted in 2008, will allow the Census Bureau to enact new and streamlined methods ensuring an accurate and cost-effective national census in 2010.

"Our principal goal is an accurate decennial census," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. "In 2010, we will meet this goal through the reengineered census process - a process that will use new technology, contain costs and deliver more timely data."

San Joaquin County was selected because it presents a unique challenge to census takers with its multilingual population and an assortment of group quarters housing, such as college residence halls, nursing homes and correctional facilities. These characteristics will allow the Census Bureau to properly simulate the 2010 Census environment in a rapidly changing and diverse area.

The 2010 Census will be a short-form-only census, designed to be simpler, more accurate and easier to complete. The nationwide implementation of the American Community Survey in 2005 replaced the need for a long-form questionnaire in 2010. In addition, two key changes enacted since Census 2000 include the mailing of replacement questionnaires and providing census takers with GPS-equipped hand-held computers.

These improvements will increase overall response rates and enhance accuracy. The Census Bureau selected Fayetteville, N.C., and the surrounding nine-county region as the second dress rehearsal site.

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