Census Layoffs to Distort Federal Statistics

The termination of up to 250,000 temporary census jobs in June will tip unemployment figures to show a net loss of jobs for the first time in six months.

“People are looking past the census effect,” said economist Alec Phillips of Goldman Sachs.

The real focus on Friday when the federal unemployment report is released will be on how many net jobs were created by private employers.

The Census began hiring people last year and added around 500,000 jobs in the spring to begin the nation-wide decennial enumeration of the countries population.

The majority of census jobs are part time and only last from six to eight weeks.