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Dive Brief:
- Data center development has been created a new important demand for employees with specialized skills, particularly those in construction, utilities and telecommunications, causing acute labor shortages in the industry and driving up wages, according to an Aug. 25 report from global staffing and workforce consultancy Kelly Services Inc.
- Kelly’s analysis of its workforce data, cross-referenced with data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that by 2026, data center employment is expected to reach 650,000 positions, a 30% increase from 2023; Construction jobs related to data centers are likely to exceed 180,000 positions by 2028. However, as data centers scramble to fill critical roles, 25 percent of their workforce is hired by competing hyperscalers and operators, the report found.
- To build a sustainable talent pipeline and maintain project momentum, data center employers can take a proactive skills-based approach, such as hiring from adjacent technical sectors such as telecommunications, utility network operations and industrial HVAC, Kelly recommended. Employers should also implement rapid improvement programs, he said.
Diving knowledge:
The talent scramble around data centers is a microcosm of what employers are experiencing in a talent pool that is in high demand and in short supply.
Driven by increased investment in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure, the U.S. data center market is experiencing the largest growth in history, with growth held back by a shortage of skilled workers, Kelly found.
The biggest constraint “is no longer just power, land or equipment. It’s talent,” noted Joel Leege, president of Kelly Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom, in a press release.
However, while 90% of data center operators identify staffing shortages as a critical constraint on their ability to build or expand facilities, “workforce planning failure represents the number one cause of delay within organizations’ control,” Kelly said.
A shortage of skilled talent is also pushing up wages, although pay varies by 46 percentage points across the U.S., from Silicon Valley at 34.2 percent above the national average to Omaha at 11.8 percent below, Kelly’s analysis showed. National midpoint estimates start at $175,000 for AI engineers, $178,000 for data center operators, $135,000 for program managers and $128,000 for construction managers, Kelly found.
The scale of data center development does the different work challenge of staffing a single large project, pushing employers to rethink how they recruit and retain talent, industry executives said during a virtual event last week hosted by Construction Dive. For example, in addition to pay and benefits, employers offer incentives such as formal mobility programs for remote projects, student loan repayment assistance and professional development programs, participants said.
Competition for workers reach beyond data centers — is driving trained professionals away from other environments, according to a survey released last month by the National Fire Protection Association, which sets fire and electrical safety standards in the built environment.
Researchers have also suggested that due to the growing demand for skilled trade workers needed to implement AI infrastructure, the recruitment time is now longer for them than for knowledge workers, Randstad reported in March.
