As generative AI wipes out lakhs of white-collar jobs across industries, Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer Jon Gray says that technology is simultaneously fuelling a surge in blue-collar employment. According to a report by Fortune, speaking at the Milken Institute, Gary produced a “huge boom in skilled trades” over the next five years, driven by massive investments in AI infrastructure. Gray pointed to QTS, a Blackstone portfolio company which operates or is developing more than 75 data centers across the world. A year ago, about 10,000 workers were on QTS job sites; by year’s end, that number is expected to quadruple to 40,000. “Between the energy, the physical infrastructure, the data centers, the reindustrialization—something very powerful is happening,” Gray said.Global spending on data centers could reach $7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey, creating lucrative opportunities for electricians, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians. A single data center can be 40–50% larger than a Walmart Supercenter and require up to 1,500 workers during peak construction.
Higher pay for skilled trades
Construction workers on data center projects earn an average of $81,800 annually, or $39.33 an hour — about 32% more than those on non-data center builds, according to Skillit, an AI-powered hiring platform. This wage premium reflects the specialized skills required to build facilities powering the AI economy.
Talent shortage looms
Despite increasing demand and pay, filling the roles of skilled trades remains a big challenge. According to the US Department of Education around 2.1 million skilled trade jobs will go unfilled by 2030 and this would cost around $1 trillion to the economy annually. The shortage of employees stem from multiple factors such as aging workforce, decades of emphasis on four-year degrees over vocational training, and surging demand tied to AI infrastructure.
Companies rebuilding the pipeline
To address this gap, the companies are now investing heavily on the development of workforce. The charitable arm of Blackstone recently committed $3 million to launch the Blackstone Skilled Futures. This is a training initiative started in association with the Arizona State University, Maricopa Community Colleges, and local nonprofits.QTS currently has three data centers under development in Phoenix.Meanwhile, Lowe’s announced a $250 million investment to train 250,000 people in plumbing, carpentry, and electrical work over the next decade. CEO Marvin Ellison said the initiative is critical as AI reshapes the workforce: “In a world where administrative and analytical occupations are going to be increasingly dominated with the acceleration of AI, we think the skilled-trade initiative is going to be even more important.”
