An interactive Excel dashboard built for Maven Careers, a non-profit helping high school seniors explore career paths — enabling students to compare wages, employment, and industry trends across 48 US states from 2017 to 2020.
us-labor-statistics-dashboard.mp4
Client: Maven Careers (non-profit career guidance organization) Role: Research Analyst & Excel Dashboard Designer Tool: Microsoft Excel Dataset: US_Labor_Statistics.xlsx (BLS Data, 2018–2020) Period Covered: 2018 – 2020 | 48 States | 10 Industries
The Head of Research needed a dashboard ready for an upcoming round of high school visits. The goal: let students explore real labor market data — wages, employment size, and state-by-state differences — and use it to inform their career choices.
The brief from Susy Salary (Head of Research):
"Can you please create a dashboard that seniors can use to explore wage and employment trends, and compare them across industries? A map showing differences across states would help a ton."
- 🏭 Industry Filter — Select any of 10 industries; all visuals update instantly
- 📅 Year Filter — Toggle between 2018, 2019, and 2020 data
- 📈 Wage & Employment Trend Chart — Track how average wages and employee counts changed year-over-year for the selected industry
- 🏆 Average Wage by Industry Bar Chart — Ranked comparison of all 10 industries; selected industry highlighted
- 🍩 Employee Share Donut Chart — Shows the selected industry's share of total US employment
- 🗺️ Interactive US State Map — Toggle between Average Wage and Employees per 1,000 Capita across all 48 states
- 🔄 Fully Dynamic — Every chart, table, and KPI updates from two dropdowns
| Industry | Avg Annual Wage | Employment Size |
|---|---|---|
| 🥇 Information | $88,539 | Smaller but high-value |
| 🥈 Finance | $86,439 | Large and stable |
| 🥉 Business Services | $72,152 | Largest employer |
| Manufacturing | $66,954 | Significant in Midwest |
| Construction | $62,639 | Strong regional variation |
| Natural Resources | $54,138 | High variance by state |
| Education & Health | $51,943 | Largest public sector |
| Trade & Transportation | $47,859 | Most employees nationally |
| Other Services | $38,994 | Broad and fragmented |
| 📉 Leisure & Hospitality | $22,791 | Lowest paid — nearly 4x gap vs. top |
The 4x wage gap between Information ($88K) and Leisure & Hospitality ($22K) is the single most powerful insight this dashboard surfaces for students — a data point that can genuinely shape a career decision.
The state map supports two views toggled by a button:
- Average Wage — Which states pay the most for the selected industry? (Texas leads in Natural Resources at $117K; California leads Information)
- Employees per 1,000 Capita — Where is this industry most concentrated relative to population? Normalizing for population removes the California/Texas size bias and reveals smaller states with outsized industry presence.
| Skill | Application |
|---|---|
| Excel PivotTables | Aggregating wages and employment by industry, state, year |
| Data Validation | Industry and year dropdown selectors |
| AVERAGEIFS / SUMIFS | Dynamic KPI calculations across filtered dimensions |
| VLOOKUP | Pulling selected industry's employee share |
| Array Formulas | Powering the dynamic state map visualization |
| Conditional Formatting | Color-coded map intensity by state value |
| Named Ranges | Stable references across Data, Data Prep, and Dashboard sheets |
| Dynamic Chart Linking | All charts respond to filter changes without manual refresh |
us-labor-statistics-dashboard/
│
├── US_Labor_Statistics.xlsx # Full workbook: Data + Data Prep + Dashboard
├── README.md # This file
├── PROJECT_BRIEF.md # Original brief from Maven Careers
│
└── screenshots/
└── dashboard.png # Dashboard preview image
- Download
US_Labor_Statistics.xlsx - Open in Microsoft Excel (2016 or later recommended)
- Enable content if prompted
- Use the Industry dropdown to select a career sector
- Use the Year toggle to switch between 2018 / 2019 / 2020
- Use the Map toggle to switch between Avg Wage and Employees per 1,000 Capita
- All charts, the trend line, and the map update automatically
This dashboard was built for a 17-year-old who has never looked at labor statistics before.
That means no jargon. No axes that require a legend to decode. No charts that need a 10-minute walkthrough before the insight lands.
Every visual answers one question a student would actually ask:
- "Which industry pays the most?" → The wage bar chart answers this in 2 seconds
- "Is this industry growing?" → The trend chart shows it year-over-year
- "Where in the US should I look for jobs in this field?" → The map answers this at a glance
A dashboard that only makes sense to the person who built it has failed its user. This one doesn't need a guide.
Created by: Bushra Khan
Portfolio: thedataalchemist.co
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bushra-nazeer-khan
GitHub: github.com/BushraKhan359
Available for onsite roles in Karachi, Pakistan | Open to remote globally
Built as part of a data analytics portfolio demonstrating Excel dashboard design, data storytelling, and stakeholder-focused visualization.