Word: census
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Early next week the new commerce secretary was to face the politically charged decision whether or not to adjust, by so-called statistical sampling, the 2000 census report to include millions of people left uncounted by the recent population tally. The issue of statistical sampling continues to spark heated political debate; advocates of the practice, mainly Democrats, say adjustments are the only way to redress what they say is the disenfranchisement of an estimated 3.4 million Americans, primarily minorities and poor people living in urban areas, who went uncounted in the last census. The plan's Republican opponents counter that...
...Given the political firestorm that would undoubtedly follow such a decision, Evans was reportedly approaching this announcement with some trepidation. Thursday, the Census Bureau made Evans' life a whole lot easier, advising the secretary in no uncertain terms to reject any revised numbers. There is no evidence, the bureau's director told Evans, that adjusted figures would be any more accurate than the original numbers. Evans' final verdict, his aides insist, is not set in stone - and until it is, civil rights leaders and Democrats will pepper his office with statements opposing the bureau's recommendation...
...some very tough political rhetoric. In his first high-profile move in office, Evans Friday issued a rule that makes him the final arbiter over the hotly contested political issue of whether the initial population count is accurate or needs to be statistically adjusted. The move removes from the Census bureau the decision over whether to adjust the 2000 count to guard against an undercount of minorities and low income Americans. Evans says the move is about accountability. "I believe the decision-making authority for the 2000 Census should reside with a person selected by the President, approved...
...final population count and how it should be made has become a thorny political issue since the census bureau admitted 4 million people were missed in the 1990 tabulation, many of them blacks and Hispanics. To solve the problem, Democrats - who as the traditional choice of those constituencies stand to benefit most from their being counted - have advocated "sampling," which tweaks the final count through statistical adjustment. The stakes are high: The final numbers will be used to redistribute over $185 billion in federal funds across the country and will be used to draw the districts of the 435 members...
...Evans' decision revokes a Clinton administration order issued in October that puts the power for figuring out how to make the count accurate into the hands of the head of the Census Bureau. Maloney and other Democrats are so exercised because they believe career statisticians in the Census Bureau, not politicians, should use science to determine whether the count has been made fairly. "Professionals should make the decision, not the former chairman of Bush's presidential campaign," says Maloney of Evans. But sources at the Census Bureau say that the input of these scientists will not be ignored. Evans...