Officer of Statistics #Census2022

Today is my last day as an Officer of Statistics - Census Enumerator for the 2022 Census. I am officially retired again! It was an unusual feeling being back at work, and I never had a job before that involved so much cold-calling to households. While I can never say "never again", I'm fairly sure that this is the final time working for pay - it's good to feel retired again.

Ready to enumerate!

I cannot reveal anything about any Census data I gathered - I have had to assure people on the doorsteps that all data gathered is confidential, so I need to respect that. Enumerators do not cover their own neighbourhood, and I was very lucky with the area I got. It was almost all domestic houses, and I gather from what other Enumerators have said that I was lucky I did not get any apartment blocks or hotels. 

As expected, I had to walk many kilometers for both delivering forms and collecting them. It is a physically demanding job - in addition to walking a lot, there is all the carrying of documents. I was also very lucky in that almost everyone I met was very cooperative and supportive of the Census. I was welcomed by most, and with the exception of a handful of rude people, I had very few problems. My only awkward moments were when I called at an inconvenient time.

I had to call to several dwellings multiple times. It can be difficult to call at a time when people are at home. I did find a lot of people working from home, but there were many houses when I had to call back to again and again to deliver or collect a Census form. I got to know my area very well!

Part of my reason for coming out of retirement to be a Census Enumerator was that I had used 2011 and 2016 Census data for assignments in my Statistics classes at NCI. Students were required to compare demographic data from different areas. The reason for choosing census data was that it is a great source for data that does not follow a normal distribution. This meant that it was ideal for non-parametric statistical tests such as the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Census 2022 is also historic in that it is almost certainly the last time the Census will be conducted on paper. It is going on-line next time as has happened in other countries. There will be no more Enumerators in yellow high-viz jackets pounding the streets.