Census - Place of Work

17-03-2022 8:19pm #1

Why does the census ask for the name and address of a person's employer?

Sierra Oscar · 17-03-2022 8:27pm

Because in a 100 years time people might like to know the name and location of their ancestors employer.

dobman88 · 17-03-2022 8:28pm

Because over the course of the next 100 years, places may change, get demolished, companies fold, new companies start and knowing there was a building with such a name with x amount of employees may be helpful for future historians or something like that.

It's just another set of data to collect.

corner of hells · 17-03-2022 8:48pm

The census is being overseen this year by the KGB ,so ya know , if they want to find you they have your address and employer.

T-Maxx · 17-03-2022 8:58pm

Hardly relevant for a census to go into that level of detail. I don't mind letting them know in which village/town/city I work but not employer/address detail.

Jim_Hodge · 17-03-2022 9:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118799413#Comment_118799413

I think your employer and place of work could be found out if they wanted to know for any reason other than historical census material. I assume you are a tax payer.

BingCrosbee · 17-03-2022 9:20pm

Larbre34 · 18-03-2022 1:38am

I used to fill in Census forms without much of a thought, but I have to say the last decade of personal data driven concerns really does make me think twice also, about some of the forensic detail.

I just read the CSO's statement on the legality of the census and its status vis-a-vis GDPR and the Data Protection Acts.

One line of it really sticks out.

The CSO only publishes grouped anonymous data in the form of statistics.

If this is really the case, then a whole heap of the questions are superfluous, unless the CSO plans to publish statistics on the employment profile of Flick The Beans Café, Main Street, with its two full time staff and three casual weekenders.

I've no problem telling the census what field of work I'm in, and what my highest level of qualification is, in a non-specific way. And I'm happy to say what town or postal district I work in and how I get there. But if they're telling me that individual employers details and other such stuff could not possibly be represented in statistical analysis of grouped data, why do they want it?

I simply do not trust that a reconciliation of data across other Government databases will not take place. And even if that did take place, there is nothing in any data set that could cause me a problem, but what about situations for people where it might?

What if people, for personal reasons, are keeping aspects of their lives private or anonymous, in the case of coercive or abusive relationships? How can they be fill in some of this stuff in the presence of an abuser, or information for their kids?

I've wandered off the original point there, but really I think they will have a considerable compliance issue with the Census on this occasion.