Appropriations Update
The U.S. Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) on September 29 (primarily as a substitute amendment to H.R. 6833) to keep the federal government funded and open past the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, through December 16, 2022. The House followed suit by a 230-201 vote on September 30, after which the President signed it into law. (The Senate Appropriations Committee posted the text of the CR and a section-by-section.)
A broad coalition of over 100 national, state, and local census stakeholder organizations wrote in September to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) to approve the House passed version of the Census Bureau’s new budget.
In the letter to the chairs and ranking members of the appropriations committees, stakeholders said “…[t] We want to ensure that the Census Bureau receives the highest possible level of funding in the final Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. Specifically, we urge that the final FY 2023 CJS appropriations bill provide the Census Bureau with at least $1.505 billion—an amount approved by the House Appropriations Committee.”
Policy Update
U.S. House of Representatives Passes Census Reform Legislation
On September 15, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 8326, Ensuring a Fair and Accurate Census Act, by a vote of 220-208. Sponsored by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the bill contains provisions designed to enhance the U.S. Census Bureau’s independence and strengthen its operations. The legislation was informed in part by the results of an investigation that the Committee conducted regarding the conduct of the 2020 Census.
Brennan Center Releases Blueprint, “Improving the Census”
Noting that the “bureaucracy and law that govern the census have not been systemically altered in decades,” the Brennan Center for Justice has offered “a blueprint for reforming the law and policy of the decennial population count…to make future censuses more accurate, equitable, and legitimate.” The report, “Improving the Census,” includes 19 proposals that the Center says “will free the Census Bureau from recurring problems that it has never squarely addressed and set it up to respond to future problems in a more flexible, effective, and democratically responsive way.”
Experts Release Paper Regarding Disclosure Avoidance
A new paper proposes to help “take into account the planned presence of well-specified, well-justified noise in data releases based on the 2020 Decennial Census” thanks to disclosure avoidance. Erica Groshen and Daniel Goroff reviewed “strategies, trade-offs, and rationales associated with processing and releasing the decennial results” and offer recommendations.
Census Bureau Seeks Input on 2030 Census
On August 17, the Census Bureau issued a Federal Register notice seeking comments on the 2030 Census. Specifically, the Bureau is seeking input regarding five major topics: Reaching and Motivating Everyone to Respond to the Census; Technology; New Data Sources; How We Contact Respondents; and Respondent Support. Comments are due November 15.
Census Bureau News
Census Director Santos explained in a blog post that the Bureau is “seeking ideas about what to research and how to conduct the 2030 Census. Stated briefly, “we want and need your help.”
Census Director Santos remembered two Census Bureau employees killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks: “Marion Britton and Waleska Martinez, employees in our New York Regional Office who were passengers on hijacked Flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.”
A Bureau blog post looked at the difference between the supplemental and official measures of poverty. Another post looked at the impact of inflation on estimates of income and earnings.
Director Santos offered his thoughts on identity and diversity for Hispanic Heritage Month on September 15, September 22, and September 29.
Research Matters blog posts from the Bureau looked at using administrative data to evaluate nonresponse in the 2022 CPS on September 13 and September 17.
The Bureau announced the beginning of data collection for phase 3.6 of the experimental Household Pulse Survey (HPS) and explained updated and new questions.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced the launch of the refreshed census.gov website that is designed to present data in an even more user-friendly way.
Census Bureau Data Releases
The Census Bureau released new 2021 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year estimates.
The Bureau announced that real median household income in 2021 was not statistically different than 2020. The official poverty rate of 11.6% was also not statistically different between 2020 and 2021. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2021 was 7.8%, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from 2020. Meanwhile, the percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2021 was 91.7% (compared to 91.4% in 2020.) An estimated 8.3% of people, or 27.2 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2021, according to findings from the 2022 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). That’s compared with an estimated 8.6% of people, or 28.3 million, who did not have health insurance at any point during 2020.
The Census Bureau released new Business Formation Statistics (BFS) for August 2022.
The Bureau released a summary brief and chart from the 2020 State and Local Government Finance survey.
The U.S. Census Bureau released a new report based on ACS data examining the domestic migration patterns of adults age 65 and up in the United States. The report, Domestic Migration of Older Americans: 2015-2019, compares the general mobility of people over and under age 65 (especially those ages 55 and 64), exploring how many moved — and where — by age, sex and disability status.
The U.S. Census Bureau released its first-ever Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) for Puerto Rico. These data, available through QWI Explorer and the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Extraction Tool, provide comprehensive data access and analytical capabilities through flexible charts, tables and maps.
The Bureau released the 2020 Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS) in the Census API, on data.census.gov, and on the BDS website. The BDS is an annual time-series, covering the years 1978 to 2020. The data provide measures of business dynamics, such as job creation and destruction, establishment births and deaths, and firm startups and shutdowns for the economy overall and aggregated by establishment and firm characteristics.
News You Can Use
Below are several articles posted on The Census Project home page in September 2022. For a complete listing, go to: https://thecensusproject.org/recent-media/.
US Congress Asked to Fund Census Bureau With $1.5Bn
ResearchLive
September 28, 2022
Delay in census data blurs picture of who really lives here
WRAL
September 25, 2022
A Fact Worth Repeating
National Review
September 22, 2022
Marker in tiny Missouri hamlet denotes US population center
Associated Press
September 21, 2022
What the Child Poverty Rate Is Missing
Wall Street Journal
September 20, 2022
Detroit sues Census Bureau, accuses feds of undercounting minorities
The Detroit News
September 20, 2022
Some census takers who fudged 2020 data didn’t get fired, federal report says
Associated Press
September 18, 2022
Who is Hispanic?
Pew Research Center
September 15, 2022
U.S. Incomes Fail to Grow for Second Year in a Row, Census Figures Show
The Wall Street Journal
September 13, 2022
Boston’s challenge says census missed students, inmates
Associated Press
September 13, 2022
Arab Americans, tired of being invisible in federal data, demand to identify as MENA, not white
USA TODAY
September 7, 2022
Federal Government’s Bungled Census Bad News for Red States. Here’s Why.
The Daily Signal
September 5, 2022
Census Bureau Finishes Some Local Count Challenges
Stateline
September 2, 2022