The U.S. Census Bureau is hiring almost 2,000 area residents to work on the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal taking place in San Joaquin County, Calif., offering pay rates between $12.25 and $14.50 per hour.

The temporary jobs, lasting about five to 10 weeks, offer flexible hours and are ideal for students, retirees and others seeking part-time work.

"By early April, we hope to hire local residents who know the area and want to help ensure an accurate count of the people and housing units in San Joaquin County," said Ralph Lee, regional director of the Census Bureau's Seattle Regional Office.

Employment selections and training sessions are under way with jobs available now until summer 2008. The training prepares census takers to use hand-held computers to update address lists and collect information from residents who do not return their questionnaires by mail. Most positions require U.S. citizenship, a driver's license and use of a vehicle and each applicant will undergo a background check.

"The dress rehearsal is the first opportunity to apply all we have learned from census tests conducted throughout the decade to prepare for the nation's once-a-decade population census," Lee said.

The largest peacetime operation conducted by the government, the census is the basis for reapportionment for the House of Representatives and the distribution of more than $200 billion to state and local governments every year through federal funding.

San Joaquin County, and a nine-county area surrounding Fayetteville, N.C., are the two sites selected by the Census Bureau to participate in the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal.

San Joaquin was selected because it is an urban location with a multilingual population and an assortment of group-quarters housing, such as college dorms and nursing homes. Enumerating the county will enable the Census Bureau to simulate the Census environment among a rapidly changing and diverse population.

All of the information the Census Bureau collects is confidential by law. Census Bureau employees take an oath to protect the information they collect and are subject to a jail term, a fine - or both - if they disclose any personally identifiable information.

For more information or to apply for Census Dress Rehearsal jobs, call toll-free at 1-866-376-2008.

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