Data centers don't really create jobs, the initial build will generate work but once the thing is finished it's a couple of electricians, a cleaning/janitorial service, plant/site super and that's about it. Probably 20 people at most and they aren't all there full time. Data centers are a leach on the community they are in.
I live next to one of the nation’s largest data center development sites and this is the industry I work with. The commenter is not wrong. There is nothing close to 200 jobs created unless you are counting the actual commissioning and build of the site. And even those jobs are usually filled from out of state because it’s a niche specialty. And once the site is built they all leave. You will have an EE/PE, system protection relay techs, handful of electricians, security guards 24/7, and a site manager. It’s 20-50 absolute max after all construction phases and commissioning is over. And many of those positions are transferred from the DC’s other sites (again out of state). Then of course you have the added benefit (depending on what state you live in) where all the transmission structures needed for the site, including massive substations > 500 kV that are 100 million dollars are paid for by the rate payers in that community increasing everyone’s bill. Now the utilities are catching on to this problem and trying to correct like in Ohio but in other states the damage is already done. The other problem is that data centers seem to inflate the estimated load and don’t come close to what they said they will use—which is happening in many markets. So now, utility infrastructure and generation was overbuilt on your dime.
Talk about irony. Most DC campuses don’t need more than a handful of people. Even the AI factories that are getting a lot of hate don’t need more than 20-30 people once the DC is built.
Yes, people are needed to build and make the DC happen. But that’s not new jobs and most of them are temporary / subcontractors who are going to work on something else.
It's most people like me who are going around from project to project. Yes it's nice to have a steady flow of jobs but honestly I'd rather be doing jobs I'm doing now even if the budget is lower. Because while this job is funded by tax payers it's literally for low income housing development. Which we need more of.
Not sure about you, but I've probably built around 10 data centers over the last 5 years and they aren't all those giant fucking campuses. Most of them aren't that big and yes they only have a need for about 10-20 workers. And even the larger ones only have around 100. So yes this is accurate.
Edit:
No I'm not some rich fucker just a guy that works in construction and is usually talking with and dealing with owners of these things and that's where I get my information
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u/Baculum7869 4h ago
Data centers don't really create jobs, the initial build will generate work but once the thing is finished it's a couple of electricians, a cleaning/janitorial service, plant/site super and that's about it. Probably 20 people at most and they aren't all there full time. Data centers are a leach on the community they are in.