November 19, 2002
U.S. Census Head Visits McCombs' Bureau of Business Research
|
|||||||
The implications of the interruption in Congressional funding of the 2003 Economic Census and the new American Community Survey were among topics addressed by U.S. Census Bureau Director C. Louis Kincannon during an on-campus seminar Nov. 8.
Kincannon, guest of the Bureau of Business Research addressed the issues before demographers, sociologists, economists, and librarians from state agencies.
"The economic census is the basis for principal economic indicators for retail and wholesale industries that serve as a benchmark for the businesses themselves as well as governmental and regulatory entities down to the county level," Kincannon said. It is a survey of U.S. businesses' receipts, products, employment, materials consumed, products manufactured, hourly and salaried workers, and even consumption of electricity. The economic census has been gathered every five years for the last 50 years. Last January, Congress denied the funding request for the 2003 economic census. But Kincannon says the Bureau has funds for mailing out the surveys and he is optimistic that funding for processing will be forthcoming.
The new American Community Survey (ACS), to be implemented next year, will replace the 60-year-old long form. It will produce key demographic and socio-economic data every year rather than every ten years. Federal and state agencies will also benefit from future census data. With state budgets under considerable pressures and constraints, current information about local communities can greatly improve how policy-makers make funding decisions, Kincannon said.
A Waco native, Kincannon graduated from UT with an economics degree in 1963. That year, the 22-year-old joined the Census Bureau as a statistician "Being in public service during the Kennedy administration was vigorous and exciting," Kincannon recalled.
During his 39-year career, he has held positions of increasing responsibility in the economic, demographic, and administrative sections. In 1992, he was appointed as the first chief statistician for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, and held the post until 2000. Last year, President George W. Bush nominated Kincannon for Census Bureau director. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in March.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
