Over the past several months, the US Census Bureau has hired over half a million people for its decennial counting of the masses. The temporary jobs created have helped prop up a still-sluggish jobs market, but the Bureau will begin laying off temporary census employees at the end of June.

The first round of census layoffs will total some 275,000 — though not all will be laid off at the same time. “On behalf of the full Census Bureau family,” Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves said in a blog post addressed to temporary workers, “I thank you for your service to the country, and I wish you well in the next steps in your careers.”