BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: The changing face of the United States population is having an impact on the first official head count of the millennium. CNN's Jeanne Meserve has this report.</s>JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 2000 census will be more difficult than previous ones, in part because recent immigrants now make up 9.3 percent of the U.S. population.</s>KENNETH PREWITT, DIR., U.S. CENSUS BUREAU: We have a larger part of our population is non-English speaking. We have a highly more mobile population than we had in 1990 and we simply have more households.</s>MESERVE: The Census Bureau has been upbraided for under counting minorities in the last census. In an effort to minimize that problem, the bureau is trying to recruit minority workers who know their communities, speak the language, and are more likely to be trusted. A $9.6 million ad campaign is being launched. Once you had to be a U.S. citizen to work for the Census Bureau. Now, legal immigrants can, and the bureau's employment test is being offered in Spanish. On top of that, the pay can be handsome, 80 percent of the local prevailing wage, which runs from $8.25 up to $18.50.</s>MESERVE: Despite extensive advertising about the importance of the census, only 61 percent of households are expected to respond by mail. Workers are needed to go door and door to get data from the rest. But the Census Bureau is fearful it may not find all the workers it needs. The robust U.S. economy is just providing too many other attractive job opportunities -- Bernie.</s>SHAW: Thank you, Jeanne Meserve.
Increased Flow of Immigrants Into U.S. Makes Job of Census Bureau a Bit More Challenging