Anxiety about the future of work in the age of artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch. AI entrepreneur Matt Shumer recently amplified those fears in a widely circulated tweetstorm, arguing that AI’s labor-market shock could rival the sudden economic disruption of COVID-19 in early 2020. Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei echoed a similarly grim outlook late last year.
Yet alongside the AI boom is a less-discussed countertrend: the rapid expansion of the physical infrastructure that AI itself depends on. Massive data centers and the power systems that support them cannot be designed, permitted, financed, built, secured, or maintained by software alone. While predictions from Shumer, Amodei, and others may spell trouble for many white-collar roles, they coincide with a surge in demand for construction, engineering, and project management jobs.
That shift is already visible in the data. The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows construction among the strongest job-gaining sectors, with data center construction alone adding 33,000 jobs. Globally, power demand from data centers is expected to nearly double over the next four years, reaching as much as 200 gigawatts, driven largely by AI workloads alongside hyperscale cloud computing.
Building and operating this infrastructure requires a wide range of skilled trades. Electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers, welders, drywall installers, and construction managers—all mainstays of the American skilled trades workforce—are increasingly essential, according to Andrew Chamberlain, Ph.D., chief economist at Gusto, in a new report examining employment trends tied to AI infrastructure.
Chamberlain’s team analyzed payroll data from more than 400,000 small and midsize U.S. businesses, focusing on seven key construction and trade occupations in counties with high concentrations of AI data center development—so-called “hotspots.” Their conclusion: skilled trade workers in these regions are seeing tangible gains from the AI infrastructure boom, including higher wages and stronger hiring.
Median wages for blue-collar workers are 7.1% higher in data center hotspots than elsewhere. Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters enjoy an average wage premium of 20%, while construction managers see a 7% premium. Employment growth for skilled trades overall has risen by roughly 25–28% both in hotspot regions and nationally, but certain roles stand out. Drywall installer employment is growing 112% faster in hotspots, and HVAC mechanics are seeing 41% faster growth—reflecting the intense demand for climate control expertise in energy-dense data center environments.