The pay is actually pretty decent, and is cost-of-living adjusted. In Portland where I live, for example, it's $18/hour, which is way better than some temp jobs I've had.
Interesting. Back when I did it, it was piecework. Maybe one to three dollars per household, depending on whether it was a short or long form, and whether you managed to get someone to fill it out. That was around minimum wage, though if you hustled (or pencil-whipped things), you could probably make more.
Also, I think I heard that these days you have to produce your draft registration number in order to apply, which sucks.
> you have to produce your draft registration number in order to apply
Not true. What you actually have to do is sign a form declaring that you are or aren't registered with Selective Service, and if not a brief reason why, which is the same information-gathering requirement for most or all federal jobs.
You can actually see the full set of paperwork with PDF forms here: https://www.census.gov/about/census-careers/new_emp.html The main one is the Declaration for Federal Employment, which is the generic form that everybody who ever wants to work for the government in any capacity has to fill out.
There's no quota, but enumerator hours-per-week are based on estimates of work and there's no particular effort to claw back unused time if the actual work is done early, so intentional foot-dragging just takes up de facto paid time the enumerator could spend on other things like school or job-hunting.
Or maybe they would prefer to spend their time finding people who are actually hard to enunerate, rather than wasting on someone who is just looking to consume their time.
Also, I think I heard that these days you have to produce your draft registration number in order to apply, which sucks.