Skopje, 12 August 2021 (MIA) - The State Statistical Office (SSO) Director Apostol Simovski said that there is little interest among people to apply at the public advertisement for census takers for the upcoming 2021 census, adding that they are lacking around 1,000 to 1,500 census takers. The low interest for applying for census takers is not due to the pandemic, but because the public advertisement was published during the summer holidays, when people (farmers) are working on the fields or people work seasonal jobs abroad, Simovski told Sitel TV on Thursday evening urging people to apply at the public ad. “The census was postponed to September. And this was a period when we had to publish the public advertisement for census takers. I did not expect that the interest would be so low, especially in the census areas that cover the city of Skopje and the surrounding area, Ohrid, Strumica, Novo Selo and the census areas where the Albanian population lives. We are lacking around 1,000 to 1,500 census takers,” Simovski added. He said that there is sufficient number of census takers in 20 out of a total of 50 region. According to Simovski, there is enough time for those interested to apply at the public advertisement for census takers for whom the training starts on Aug. 28. He also stressed that the census will be conducted incompliance with COVID-19 health prevention measures. Half of the census takers have already been vaccinated, and the others express willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19, he added.