Meta, Google, and BlackRock are funding apprenticeship programs and crash courses to staff a data center construction boom with no historical precedent
MARK FELIX / Getty Images
Meta $META, Google $GOOGL, and BlackRock $BLK are collectively committing more than $265 million to recruit and train electricians, carpenters, and other construction workers to build artificial intelligence data centers across the United States, according to The New York Times.
Meta is putting $115 million toward the first year of what it calls an ongoing, multi-year effort, initially enrolling around 5,000 people in a month-long course — with transportation and housing covered — after which participants move directly onto job sites with Meta contractors. Google's $50 million pledge is directed at the IBEW and its contractor network, with the goal of growing yearly apprenticeship intake from 19,500 to 30,000 over a three-year period, concentrated in markets Google has identified. BlackRock has contributed $100 million to expand skilled trades training for its data centers in Texas.
The spending reflects a labor market under strain. An Indeed analysis cited by The New York Times found that data center workers in hourly installation and maintenance roles earn roughly 42 percent above the wages for comparable positions elsewhere. Dallas and Northern Virginia, two areas with heavy data center activity, have seen workers leave their current employers to chase signing bonuses and more generous per diem packages.
"It is creating a labor tension that is really delicate," Marty Schager, Aerotek's director of data center market development said. "You've got a passive job-seeker community out there right now that I think is looking to potentially capture opportunity with this once-in-a-generation data center gold rush."
Developers are also pulling workers toward remote locations with extended shifts. The OpenAI facility under construction in Saline Township, Michigan, which state officials have called the single largest investment ever made in the state, is drawing hundreds of electricians onto a schedule of ten-hour shifts with no days off.
Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trades Unions, welcomed the investment but drew a distinction between short-term programs and established apprenticeships. He called Meta's four-week program "a brilliant public relations move," arguing it does not compare to a four-year apprenticeship.
"Any investment in the industry is a good investment at the end of the day, but we're talking about apples and oranges here," McGarvey said.
The tension between short-course credentials and full apprenticeships points to a structural problem that has been building for years. The IBEW's five-year apprenticeship requires 10,000 on-the-job hours, a pace that cannot be compressed regardless of how urgently sites need workers. Applications for commercial electrical apprenticeships rose more than 70% between 2022 and 2024, but research firm Mathematica found that only about 45% of registered apprenticeship participants complete their programs.
Tony Qorri, who oversees construction at data center developer DataBank, said long-range workforce planning is central to his role — including, when necessary, persuading contractors to turn down competing work so they remain committed to his projects.
"Even some folks that are graduating high school, these companies are going after them saying: 'We've got to train you up — this is the way to make money,'" Qorri said.
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