A new report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation suggests inadequate staffing levels have become the T’s biggest challenge and perhaps the most difficult one to resolve.

The numbers are not pretty. According to the foundation, the T needs to hire 2,800 people in the next 12 months to achieve a net gain of 1,800. The odds of reaching that goal are not good because as fast as new employees come in one door existing employees are walking out another.

From 2019 to 2022, the T hired 2,400 people but that resulted in a net gain of only 450 because so many existing employees left.

“It’s not that they haven’t made progress in the rate of hiring” said Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “It’s that when you lose five people for every six you hire the problem isn’t going away.”