The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians

AI companies like Meta and OpenAI have been offering multimillion-dollar pay packages to top talent, hoping to lure the best researchers and engineers away from their competitors. But there’s another dimension of the AI talent wars that has garnered far less attention: the massive shortage of electricians, plumbers, and heating and cooling technicians in the US who can build the physical data centers that power AI. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between 2024 and 2034, there will be a shortage of roughly 81,000 electricians on average each year in the US, measured in terms of unfilled jobs. The BLS projects the number of employed electricians to grow 9 percent over the next decade, “much faster than the average for all occupations.” One McKinsey study came to a more dire conclusion: Between 2023 and 2030, it estimates that an additional 130,000 trained electricians-as well as 240,000 construction laborers and 150,000 construction supervisors-would be needed in the US. The rapid construction of AI data centers across the country is likely a major driver of demand for skilled tradespeople. According to a May blog by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers-a labor union representing electrical workers in the US, Canada, and US territories-some local affiliates “are facing single data center projects that require two, three, sometimes four times their current membership.” Chris Madello, an international representative with the United Association, a union for plumbers and pipe fitters, says data center projects are currently demanding more workers than any other single industry. He adds that with the growth of AI, which requires a huge amount of electricity to run, “more and more manpower” is required. Some tech companies are already sounding the alarm about the dwindling pool of skilled tradespeople and taking steps to address it. Google announced last spring that it was donating an undisclosed amount of money to the Electrical Training Alliance, a group that provides training materials for electrical workers, to help 100,000 existing electricians upgrade their skills and train 30,000 new apprentices by 2030. The company said the project would contribute to an estimated 70 percent increase in the size of the trade in the coming years. Tech companies building data centers have to compete for trades talent with other construction projects, including residential housing, hospitals, factories, and energy facilities. In all of these areas, there’s already not enough workers to go around. “We have had a skilled construction worker shortage in America for years,” says Anirban Basu, chief economist of the Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade group for the construction industry. In earlier eras, he says, tradespeople passed their skills on to their children, but more recently they have been encouraging the next generation to pursue four-year college degrees. As a result, Basu explains, the construction workers with the most advanced skills are now reaching retirement age. “For years, the industry warned of a ‘silver tsunami’ in which these highly skilled baby boomers would retire in large numbers,” Basu says. “That period has arrived. It's been...

Preview: ~500 words