Census Bureau Director Steps Down

In the US, Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham has announced his retirement, effective with the Presidential transition this Wednesday; and has thanked Bureau staff for their 'extraordinary accomplishments, especially those related to the successful 2020 Census'.

Dillingham (pictured), who was President Trump's candidate for the top Bureau post and was confirmed in January 2019 after six months of delays, said today in a message to staff that he was 'hoping for some personal time for other matters, given that I have not had a vacation in more than two years', but noted that 'many Census Bureau professionals have worked harder and longer hours than me on the 2020 Census, and they performed magnificently'.

Besides conducting 'the most complex, technologically advanced decennial census ever', Dillingham said staff had 'made great sacrifices to continue our work' and '[been] resilient and persevered' in the face of
a global health crisis which 'upend[ed] a schedule and plans which had been carefully constructed over a decade'.

He concluded: 'For decades to come, scholars will study your work, not only to review and use the data you produced, but to answer the question of how the Census Bureau defied the odds to accomplish its mission. I know, from firsthand experience, our successes are the result of your creativity, tenacity, passion, and commitment'.

Dillingham has served in all the US administrations since the mid-1980s, leading the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics before working as Director of the Office of Strategic Information, Research and Planning for the US Peace Corps.

A Census Bureau spokesman said its COO Ron Jarmin will now resume the role he held prior to Dillingham's appointment.

The resignation comes amid controversy: Democrats last week called for Dillingham to go following claims that he had contributed to pressure on statisticians to rush through a report on the number of people in the country illegally. Dillingham said that 'under other circumstances' he would have been 'honored to serve President-Elect Biden just as I served the past five presidents', but he also addressed the claims directly and in detail in a blog post available here: www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/director/2021/01/final-dillingham-directors-blog.html .

Web site: www.census.gov .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.