From an intoxicated "The Hill":
"The U.S. Census Bureau expects to add up to 750,000 workers to its payroll by May, a hiring binge that could knock the unemployment rate down by as much as a half-point.
The once-a-decade census is coming at the best possible time for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, who have taken political lumps for more than a year over a jobless rate that stands at 9.7 percent. "
Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States mandates a decennial census of the population. This makes the exercise a legitimate concern of the federal govt. It also adds an additional expense to the budget. The 2010 census workers will cost the taxpayers another $1.28 Billion. "At the best possible time."
The Lefties are happy about it. Of course.
"This is the best-timed census you could ever dream of," said Heidi Shierholz, who tracks the labor market at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. She believes the March unemployment report will show the economy added jobs instead of subtracting them."
My goodness, Ms. Shierholz sounds almost giddy. Isn't it odd how the definitions blur when a govt. expenditure now counts as 'jobs added' to the overall economy, as if the tax money appropriated is from money trees, or something? Although, the people being employed for the census are probably most grateful for the temporary stipend.
"Hires for the 2010 census are temporary and part-time; the average employee works 19 hours a week for six weeks, according to Wendy Button, chief of the decennial recruiting branch of the Census Bureau.
Almost all of those hired will be doing “non-response follow-up work” that involves going door to door to collect information from people who did not return their census forms."
The Census Bureau's has advertised these temporary jobs at $15/hr.
Meanwhile, the real economy - the one actual 'working families' depend upon for long term employment continues its downhill slide, so don’t expect a hiring boom any time soon. The answer is real simple:
"By contrast, this administration has signaled higher costs and larger tax burdens since taking office. Employers face health-insurance mandates, capital-gains tax hikes, surtaxes, and an energy policy guaranteed to make production and transportation costs skyrocket. Even when consumer demand starts to increase, businesses will hesitate to expand while they hedge their bets — and their cash — against the coming tax storms."
But at least we can fall back upon temporary govt. stipends, as long as the Fed keeps printing paper dollars - and China keeps buying them.
Related: Are unemployment benefits no longer temporary? The nanny state marches on.