The Census Bureau Needs To Plan Now for a More Automated 1990 Decennial Census

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the 1980 census data processing procedures to identify the reasons for the time the Bureau of the Census needs to publish the data and to determine whether changes in procedures and equipment could reduce the time and cost involved.

Processing 88 million questionnaires which contain 3 billion items of data on the nation's population and housing is an enormous task; because of the large volume of data, the desire for accuracy, and a great reliance on manual procedures, the Bureau expects to take 3.5 years to process the data. The time required to perform clerical operations contributed to a 1-year slip in the publishing schedule. Other problems included: the underestimation of housing units, uncertain funding, data errors, and the need to update boundaries. Since the early 1970's, when planning started for the 1980 census, the automatic data processing (ADP) industry has made major technical advances which could provide the Bureau with the opportunity to automate much of the manual processing and lower future census processing time and costs. GAO stated that, although the Bureau has expressed an interest in increased automation, its initial planning efforts for the 1990 census need better coordination and development coupled with a provision for the amount of time required to acquire and test new equipment.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Gene L. Dodaro Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 512-9459