News

TWC Releases Major Update to Transit Workforce Data Dashboard

Silver Spring, Md., February 23, 2024 – This week, the Transit Workforce Center (TWC) is launching a major update to the Transit Workforce Data Dashboard, with the debut of the Agency Explorer. This addition features agency-level, searchable employment data from the National Transit Database (NTD). The Dashboard includes innovative visualizations of transit and transportation workforce statistics and analyses of workforce trends and demographics.

“Transit is vital to America’s communities, and understanding its workforce is essential,” said Xinge Wang, Deputy Director of the International Transportation Learning Center (ITLC), which operates TWC. “With the Transit Workforce Data Dashboard, agencies and other stakeholders can access clear and concise information to support decision-making, create and sustain great transit jobs, and cultivate a diverse workforce.”

The Dashboard combines information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, NTD, Lightcast (formerly EMSI Burning Glass), and the U.S. Census Bureau together with unique analyses from TWC that help paint a picture of worker demographics, wage rates, employment trends, and more. It also creates a centralized location for transit and other public agencies, labor unions, transit stakeholders, researchers, and others to find visualizations and digestible information about the transit workforce.

With the newly released Agency Explorer, stakeholders can explore employment statistics at an agency level from 2018 to 2022 for all directly operated services of full reporters to NTD. This dynamic tool enables comparisons of agencies of similar characteristics, agencies within a particular state or region, and across labor and mode categories, allowing users to analyze trends in specific workforce sections.

To roll out this exciting new addition, TWC will host a webinar on Wednesday, February 28, at 2 pm EST. The webinar will feature an introduction by FTA, followed by a demonstration of the Data Dashboard, a discussion on lessons learned from working with varied data sources. Participants will also be able to engage in a Q&A session and share their unique data needs. Register now!

The Dashboard is one of a number of several continually updated resources from TWC, the FTA’s technical assistance center for workforce development, as TWC works to support the industry and its stakeholders in addressing workforce challenges. To recommend additional elements for the Transit Workforce Data Dashboard, please email twc@transportcenter.org.

###

About TWC: In partnership with the FTA, the Transit Workforce Center (TWC) supports transit agencies’ workforce development needs for all modes of public transportation across urban, tribal, and rural entities. The overarching mission of TWC is to assist transit agencies to recruit, hire, train, and retain the diverse workforce needed now and in the future.