TBR – The College System of Tennessee has launched a new interactive online data dashboard called “Careers Start Here” to help its community and technical colleges learn more about graduates’ post-college employment and earnings. The dashboard tracks aggregate employment outcomes for graduates of Tennessee’s community colleges and colleges of applied technology (TCATs) over the past decade, examining employment rates in Tennessee, average annual wages, and industry of employment.
The new data tool is made possible by a partnership between the Tennessee Board of Regents and the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD), enabling the sharing of data between agencies to improve academic programs and workforce development efforts. TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings expressed gratitude to TDLWD Commissioner Deniece Thomas and her team for their close collaboration on this project.
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The interactive tool allows colleges to compare employment outcomes by college, major field of study, or student characteristics, as well as compare outcomes for graduates to those for students who enrolled but did not graduate. The dashboard reveals that five years after college, 76% of community college graduates and 73% of TCAT graduates were employed in Tennessee, compared to 68% of non-graduates. Graduates also earned substantially higher wages than non-graduates, with an average annual income of $45,265, more than $14,000 higher than non-graduates. Nearly one-third of employed graduates from TBR colleges work in the health care field.
TBR Assistant Vice Chancellor for Policy and Strategy, Dr. Amy Moreland, who helped lead the dashboard’s development, hopes that colleges will use this tool alongside others to strengthen the alignment between programs and workforce needs, helping students navigate to a credential and a career. The dashboard will be updated quarterly with new information and is accessible through the Employment Outcomes and Earnings tab on the comprehensive TBR Data Dashboard on the TBR website. TBR plans to continue refining the data tool to make it even more useful for students, parents, and high school guidance counselors in their college and career planning.
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