Canada is still looking for thousands of people to work on the 2016 census. Statistics Canada sent out its first hiring call in early January and is now in the midst of hiring 35,000 census workers. But it said Friday it still needs thousands more.

"We're still hiring," StatsCan spokesman André​ Langdon said. "It's a lot of jobs to fill."

Statistics Canada is looking for 25,000 enumerators, 4,000 crew leaders and assistants, and 6,000 others in a variety of field operations and collection support jobs across the country.

The jobs, which pay from $16.31 to $19.91 an hour, run from March through July. In 2011, the jobs paid $14.72 to $18.04 an hour and 35,000 workers were hired then, too.

Applicants must be at least 18 and eligible to work in Canada. They also need access to a home computer with an internet connection.

1 in 4 to get long-form questionnaire

The 2016 census will be the first since 2006 to include the long-form census for some households. The Conservative government cancelled the mandatory long census form for the 2011 census, replacing it with a voluntary national household survey. The Tories cited privacy reasons.

The cancellation was widely criticized by researchers, business analysts and planners who rely on high-quality data for their work.

The Trudeau government restored the mandatory long-form census a day after it was sworn in last November.

All 14.5 million households are required to fill out a census form. For most households, it will be the short form census questionnaire. About one in four households will fill out the long-form questionnaire.

Starting May 2, Statistics Canada will send out census letters and packages to all households. The census questionnaire can be completed online or on paper.