New census to offer more timely data

LOS ANGELES - The Census Bureau will release a giant collection of data tomorrow that will offer the first full look at the new annual version of the American Community Survey.

The switch from a 10-year community report to an annual survey will give demographers more current information on social trends. The Census Bureau has been previewing the new survey with smaller releases over the past three years.

"Ten years is a long time to wait in a society that moves as fast as ours does," said William H. Frey, demographer for the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Census Bureau director Steve H. Murdock said the trove of information that the census has become - such as how much money we make, who our ancestors were, how much time we spend in our cars, what race we identify with, and whether our children go to private or public schools - is incidental to the original purpose of the census.

The Constitution mandates that once every 10 years the government count the population for the purpose of apportioning electoral districts.

That once-a-decade count will continue. What has changed is the way the bureau will gather information on other subjects that, since 1940, have been detailed in a questionnaire known as "the long form."

Those questions provide data used in distributing money from federal and state programs. In 2008, the federal government is expected to divvy up $300 million on the basis of census data.

"Every question is required by some part of the federal establishment for the administration of programs," Murdock said.

Recent censuses have revealed how racial attitudes are changing and how many Americans of the same sex consider themselves "domestic partners."

In the past, the Census Bureau sent the long form to about 15 percent of American households. It used that sample to provide estimates on demographic facts every 10 years. But since the 1990s, the government has sought more up-to-date information.

One downside of the new continual sampling method is that fewer people are surveyed. That can affect the precision of some of the results, particularly for questions involving individual regions or small segments of the population.

LOS ANGELES TIMES