KINGSTON, Jamaica— With the Population and Housing Census set to miss its second deadline of March 31, the Government has offered a 100 per cent salary increase to census takers in an effort to keep them motivated as large numbers continue to walk away from the exercise.

Finance and Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke has blamed the development on the “tight job market”, with various industries competing for workers who are in short supply.

Clarke was speaking Tuesday as he responded to questions from the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Julian Robinson, regarding the census during deliberations before the Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee examining the 2023/24 Budget.

Robinson raised questions about the census, pointing to the high turnover among census takers who were trained to undertake the exercise that is conducted once every 10 years.

“What accounts for such a high turnover of the staff who have been trained and recruited to go out in the field and conduct the census?” Robinson queried.

In his response, Clarke acknowledged that the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) which conducts the exercise, was “having challenges”.

He pointed out that while STATIN had targeted 7,000 workers, it was unable to recruit more than 4,000.

“With the 4,000 that have been enrolled at a point in time, there has been a fair degree of turnover in that people who have been trained have moved on,” Clarke said.

“The nature of the challenge has to do with the tightness in the labour market and the availability of persons to fill that role. We have since responded with a significant upward adjustment in the fees to census takers …to try and compete in the labour market for the persons that are needed,” the minister added.

Continuing, Clarke said: “We increased the compensation for census takers by 100 per cent just to compete in the labour market”.

He explained that census takers are paid per questionnaire and a separate fee per household.

“Both those fees were doubled in response to the fact that attracting talent and attracting people have been so difficult,” he said.

In addition to doubling the compensation for census takers, STATIN has introduced additional modalities of data collection including electronic and other means.

“The tightness in the labour market is a real issue that as a country we’re going to have to address,” Clarke said.

Having started last September and initially scheduled for completion in December, the census was extended until March 31. However, Carol Coy, director general at STATIN, who appeared before the parliamentary committee, was unable to say how much longer the exercise may be extended.

Lawmakers present suggested ways to make the census exercise more exciting for both census takers and the general population, including taking onboard social media influencers in promotional campaigns. Some also promised to get involved personally.