Transit Workforce Development: Improved Strategic Planning Practices Could Enhance FTA Efforts
Fast Facts
The nation's transit agencies are having a hard time finding the qualified workers and managers needed to keep buses, trains, and ferries moving.
We examined the outlook for the transit workforce. We found:
Current federal projections of future workforce needs either don’t include or aren’t specific to the transit workforce
The Federal Transit Administration's strategic planning could be more effective in assisting transit agencies with workforce issues
We made 3 recommendations, including that FTA consider whether more specific workforce projections would be worthwhile and develop a strategy to address future workforce needs.
A train speeding through a railroad crossing with gate down and lights flashing.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The nation's transit infrastructure requires a trained workforce, consisting of a variety of occupations (see figure), to operate, maintain, and oversee it.
Examples of Transit Occupations
Information on future transit workforce needs is limited in part by the absence of transit-specific workforce projections. According to Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials, the best information available is an August 2015 report developed by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and other federal stakeholders to produce transportation job projections. However, the report's transit data are combined with ground passenger transportation data (e.g., school buses, taxis), and many of these services are specifically excluded from the statutory definition of transit. Transit-specific data were not available and would be costly to obtain, according to the researchers who wrote the report. Thus, the report does not exclusively reflect the transit workforce. The views of stakeholders GAO interviewed varied regarding whether additional workforce data were needed. Working with stakeholders to understand what, if any, additional information is needed could enable FTA to weigh the complete costs and benefits of developing future transit workforce data. This approach could also enable FTA to make informed decisions on allocating the appropriate resources toward transit workforce efforts.
While FTA assists transit stakeholders with addressing workforce needs—for example, providing about $29 million in workforce development assistance in fiscal year 2017—it lacks key strategic planning practices that could ensure its efforts are effective. FTA first reported to Congress in 2016 that it planned to develop a transit workforce strategic plan; however, no clear action has been taken to develop one so far. Further, FTA does not have clearly defined performance goals and measures—as outlined in the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010—for FTA's transit workforce development efforts. Without these key strategic planning practices, FTA is limited in its ability to make informed decisions about effectively leveraging its resources to address future transit workforce needs and in measuring the effectiveness of its efforts.
Why GAO Did This Study
FTA provides more than $12 billion annually to support and expand transit services. The operation of transit systems depends on a skilled, qualified workforce, but impending transit worker retirements and advances in transit technology may create challenges for the transit workforce such as finding eligible applicants for transit jobs and obtaining the technology expertise needed.
GAO was asked to review various issues related to the sufficiency of the transit workforce. This report discusses the extent to which: (1) information exists about future transit workforce needs and (2) FTA assists with addressing current and future transit workforce needs, among other things. GAO reviewed DOT and FTA documents, including strategic and performance plans, and interviewed DOT and FTA officials and other transit stakeholders, including representatives of transit agencies, research organizations, and unions. Stakeholders were selected based on recommendations from other transit stakeholders and for geographic diversity, among other factors.
Recommendations
GAO is making three recommendations to FTA: (1) in collaboration with stakeholders, determine whether additional transit workforce data are needed; (2) develop a comprehensive transit workforce strategy; and (3) develop performance goals and measures for FTA's transit workforce development efforts. DOT concurred with our recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Transit Administration | The FTA Administrator should determine, in collaboration with transit stakeholders, whether additional transit workforce data are needed to identify potential future occupational shortages in the transit industry and whether the benefits of this collection would outweigh the cost of gathering it. (Recommendation 1) | FTA provides more than $12 billion annually to support and expand transit services. The operation of transit systems depends on a skilled, qualified workforce, but impending transit worker retirements and advances in transit technology may create challenges for the transit workforce such as finding eligible applicants for transit jobs and obtaining the technology expertise needed. GAO interviewed DOT and FTA officials and other transit stakeholders, including representatives of transit agencies, research organizations, and unions. Stakeholders were selected based on recommendations from other transit stakeholders and for geographic diversity, among other factors. In 2019, GAO reported... that information on future transit workforce needs is limited in part by the absence of transit-specific workforce projections. Opinions on the need for additional transit workforce data and projections varied among transit stakeholders GAO interviewed. Several stakeholders cited the difficulties of collecting transit-specific projections or other types of data, while others pointed to the need for more data such as data identifying shortages in specific occupations and retirement age of transit employees. Federal Internal Control Standards highlight the importance of using quality information to make informed decisions and identifying the information requirements needed to do so while considering the expectations of internal and external users. New transit workforce projections could inform decision-making on transit workforce planning to address potential future shortages, or other needs. GAO had previously reported that agencies should weigh data collection decisions carefully, noting that there is a cost to data collection, and that only needed data should be collected. Working with stakeholders to understand what, if any, additional transit-specific workforce data transit stakeholders need and the related collection costs could enable FTA to weigh the complete costs and benefits of developing future data for the transit industry and to make informed decisions on allocating the appropriate resources toward those efforts. Therefore, GAO recommended that FTA, in collaboration with other stakeholders, determine whether additional transit workforce data are needed and whether the benefits of this collection would outweigh the costs of gathering it. In 2023, GAO confirmed that FTA staff met with key stakeholders and determined that collecting additional transit workforce data would add value. FTA told GAO that even though they do not have firm costs for the additional collection, the benefits to FTA and its recipients, including the ability for FTA to more strategically target its workforce development investments and, for transit agencies to forecast labor shortfalls more effectively and take proactive action which could ultimately provide better service to the public, make taking steps toward collecting the additional transit information worthwhile. GAO also confirmed that FTA has planned specific actions for the next steps including conducting additional outreach on workforce data collection and labor shortage projection methodology and pursuing a partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to collect more granular data on the transit workforce. As a result of these actions, FTA will be able to provide more information to decision-makers to address potential transit workforce shortages or other needs in the future.
View More |
| Federal Transit Administration | The FTA Administrator should develop and document a strategy that outlines how FTA will help address future transit workforce needs. (Recommendation 2) | FTA provides more than $12 billion annually to transit agencies across the nation to support and expand transit services. The operation of transit systems depends on a skilled, qualified workforce, but impending transit worker retirements and advances in transit technology may create challenges for the transit workforce such as finding eligible applicants for transit jobs and obtaining the technology expertise needed. In 2019, GAO reported that while FTA assisted transit stakeholders with addressing workforce needs, it lacked key strategic planning practices that could ensure that its efforts were effective. Federal Internal Control Standards indicate that plans, such as strategic plans,...
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| Federal Transit Administration | The FTA Administrator should develop and document clearly defined performance goals and measures for its transit workforce development efforts. (Recommendation 3) | FTA provides more than $12 billion annually to support and expand transit services. The operation of transit systems depends on a skilled, qualified workforce, but impending transit worker retirements and advances in transit technology may create challenges for the transit workforce such as finding eligible applicants for transit jobs and obtaining the technology expertise needed. In 2019, GAO reported that FTA did not have clearly defined performance goals and measures for its transit workforce development efforts. Establishing goals and measuring progress toward them are consistent with the management principles set forth in the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) and...
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