There’s angst in the air on college campuses and in offices across the country. Successive warnings on AI’s looming threat to automate swaths of entry-level white-collar work have put workers in a precarious position. And several large-scale layoffs this year have brought home the reality of those warnings.
But not everyone is buying into the doom-and-gloom about the labor market, particularly in the white-collar world. Carrie Charles is the CEO of staffing and recruiting firm Broadstaff, which works with Fortune 500 companies like Verizon and Oracle. She said her company has seen a surge in demand for skilled electricians and technicians as part of the AI infrastructure buildout. These are jobs that combine elements of the corporate world with the hands-on day-to-day of a trade role: viable roles for which laid-off tech workers can make a career pivot, according to Charles.
“It’s almost like a white-collar trade job,” she told Business Insider, speaking of technician roles. “It’s a technical role, but you’re not sitting all day long,” she said, saying the role combines elements of a traditional desk job with the skillset required of a trade role.
The nearly $700 billion data center buildout is turning the gears of the U.S. economic engine, with some economists estimating it’s the main driver of GDP today. The construction and maintenance of this infrastructure, some four times the size of Manhattan’s Central Park, require fleets of workers, including skilled electricians.
Advanced technicians can make up to $95,000, with a median salary of $71,000, according to a Glassdoor estimate. And senior skilled electricians can easily earn over six figures, with an estimated maximum salary of $110,000. Though Charles said that number can rise to $300,000 for skilled electricians with specialized knowledge of data center technology, such as liquid cooling and fiber cabling, a salary in line with some junior-level roles in specialized medicine or finance.
Demand for skilled trade roles is strong across the board, thanks largely to the data center buildout. Demand for robotics technicians has more than doubled. HVAC engineer demand increased 67%, and construction roles grew by 30% since late 2022, around the time ChatGPT was launched, according to an analysis of more than 50 million job listings by recruiting firm Randstad. Demand for some trades is growing three times faster than professional roles, many of which are threatened by AI automation, according to the report. That demand is strong from electricians, too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 81,000 job openings annually for the role through 2034, a “much faster than average” job growth.
AI layoffs push tech workers toward skilled trade jobs as data center demand soars
The rising demand comes as many tech firms have executed mass layoffs, placing the blame on efficiencies from AI. While some economists suspect these firms may in reality be “AI-washing,” the big layoffs have become a painful reality for many in the tech world. And it’s not just tech; AI threatens to automate roles in law, business, finance, and management, according to a recent analysis from Anthropic. But those layoffs have yet to appear in the macro data, with employers posting a better-than-expected 178,000 roles in March, and unemployment edging down to 4.3%.
Still, a growing number of white-collar workers are willing to switch to trade jobs. A 2025 report from job site FlexJobs found 62% of white-collar workers would leave the office for a trade role if it meant better stability and pay. And about 1 in 4 Gen Zers are seriously considering, or actively pursuing a career in the trades instead of a white-collar job, according to research from SupplyHouse.
Now, companies are helping to fill in that talent gap through training pipelines. Meta and real estate firm CBRE announced LevelUp on Monday, a program to recruit and train technicians to help build Meta’s data centers. Meta joins a roster of other firms investing in the trades. BlackRock is spending $100 million to train plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians. Lowe’s is investing $250 million to do the same. And TV host Mike Rowe is offering $10 million in scholarships to people interested in pursuing trade roles.
All of that is meant to relieve the dire shortages that remain a major roadblock to the data center buildout. “Talent shortages are already affecting construction schedules, commissioning timelines, and long-term operational reliability,” a Broadstaff report found earlier this year. Those findings match what other staffing and recruiting firms are observing.
Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of the world’s largest recruitment firm Randstad, told CNBC the talent shortage is the obvious bottleneck in the AI industry.
“Ultimately, the real constraint on global tech growth isn’t solely related to a shortage of microchips, energy, or capital,” he said. “It is the severe scarcity of the specialized talent required to build it.”
