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Show Census survey io examine use of government proqrams insurance and pensions and other expenditures across the nation, is used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Statis-tics to update the market basket of goods and services that contributes I T r; ? trends in various parts of the nation can be tracked. "People always ask what we do for the nine years between the census," cen-sus," Kovar said. "We are constantly h By SCOTT SUMMERILL Residents of Davis, Weber and Salt Lake counties will soon be participating in the nationwide Survey of Income and Program Participation . (S1PP) being con" -, ducted by the U. S. Bureau of the Census. According to Bureau of the Census Program Coordinator Dave Kovar, the survey is designed to provide officials with information about family income and participation partici-pation in government programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and others. Households selected for the survey will be contacted on an ongoing basis over the next two and a half years. "After the initial interview," Kovar said, "participants will be contacted every four months. The importance of the survey is to measure changes over time rather than just finding out what's happening hap-pening now." The survey will be conducted through personal interviews. Beginning Be-ginning Feb. 1 a two-member team will be canvassing the three Utah counties at a rate of 35-40 households house-holds per month. The households are scientifically selected by addresses ad-dresses collected from a 1980 census cen-sus and updated by examining local lo-cal building permits. Kovar said participants will be notified in advance by mail. The notification will also explain what information is being collected and why. "The letter will be addressed to 'Resident' rather than by a person's name," he said. Kovar said the SIPP is one of the largest surveys in the nation poll ing around 50,000 people. The information is -distributed tOTfed eral and local governments to provide pro-vide a base on which they can determine de-termine how widely government programs are being used and set criteria for how to enhance participation. partici-pation. "They may look at the figures and decide they need to do more advertising for certain programs," Kovar said. "It simply helps officials offi-cials determine where to focus their attention." Kovar said participants should realize the importance of the survey sur-vey and not be concerned that their name will appear in some file or record. "All information will be gathered gath-ered and held in the strictest of confidence," he said. "No names will ever come out. The concern is not who, but how many." Kovar pointed out that the SIPP is only one of many surveys the bureau conducts besides the familiar famil-iar population census. Another of the surveys being taken in the area now will provide information about how people spend their money. The Consumer Expenditure Survey, Sur-vey, which polls what percent of income is spent on housing, transportation, trans-portation, food, apparel and services, serv-ices, health care, entertainment, I Consumer Spending: 1987 I I Spending by Region I I Transportation I I I I Food I 4 II I Apparel & 7" I I I Services rr I I Health ri fimdwVt81 I I I Entertainment West I I I Insurance & li I I I Pensions fTM'v"r" i I I I y - ;y . ; Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics I I I 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 I I Percent of total expenditures I to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). In addition to CPI applications, the data is used in many research projects. Once compiled, spending running surveys like these to provide pro-vide valuable information to officials, offi-cials, agencies and private concerns." |