Thursday, June 4, 12 PM ET via Zoom
Thursday, June 4, 12 PM ET via Zoom – The development of data centers must include true stakeholder engagement and proper safeguards for workers, communities, and the land. Data infrastructure is a growing driver of construction employment. Last year, the industry spent over $30 billion on data center investments and estimates suggest that number will exceed $3 trillion over the next five years.
Watch the full recording here:
How can we ensure that construction jobs created by data centers are good jobs for local residents that provide good wages, high safety standards, and open career pathways through on the job training opportunities?
Participants discussed how data center development projects can involve good-paying construction jobs and community benefits. The event is part of the coalition’s ongoing series on responsible data center development.
Speakers included:
Marshall Brown, Director at Mid-Atlantic LECET
Justin Williams, Director at WV Affiliated Construction Trades
John Epperly, Secretary-Treasurer at WV State Building Trades
Data Center Staffing: What Drives On-Site Headcount
How many people work in a data center? Explore the factors that influence on-site staffing levels and the roles required to maintain critical systems.
Christopher Tozzi,Technology Analyst | April 17, 2026 |
In this article, we focus on ongoing on-site operations roles in live facilities. This excludes construction crews, one-time commissioning teams, and broader economic-impact figures for indirect and induced jobs. Some operators count only their direct employees, while others include long-term contractors (for example, security or facilities personnel). Many sites also rely on remote operations centers and centralized engineering teams who are not physically on site.
Data Centers and Construction Employment Webinar Notes:
You can find a recording of the event here. Previous events in the series include:
- Data Center Considerations for local government
- Data Center 101 – Basic info and common concerns
- Catching Heat: Opportunities to capture and re-use waste heat from data centers
For today, we had a lot of requests for sample Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and more info on PLAs for folks who want to dive into that. Below are a few resources that are not specific to data centers, but they would be relevant to any large construction project:
- Overview of Project Labor Agreements from the LIUNA website and this PLA factsheet
- Research into the value of Project Labor Agreements in West Virginia from WV Building Trades
- NABTU Model PLA https://nabtu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/STANDARD-MODEL-PLA-04272020.pdf
- Project Labor Agreement (PLA) Toolkit by National Association for Fair Contracting – This toolkit by the National Association for Fair Contracting, which includes fact sheets, messaging, sources, and more. It is free to download, but you do have to click on the link and enter your information.
Three speakers shared their expertise with us at this webinar, sharing perspectives from West Virginia and Virginia. Let us know if you have follow-up questions for them or would like to be introduced to their counterparts in your state.
Marshall Brown, Director at Mid-Atlantic LECET
Mid-Atlantic LECET website: https://www.lecet.org/affiliates/mid-atlantic-lecet/
Justin Williams Director at WV Affiliated Construction Trades
Affiliated Construction Trades webpage: https://www.wvtrades.org/about-us/
John T Epperly Secretary Treasurer at WV State Building Trades
West Virginia Building & Construction Trades Website: https://www.wvtrades.org/
Below we have compiled a list of additional resources that were shared during the event.
Articles mentioned and other resources
- See the Wall Street Journal Article shared discussing the predicted rise in data center spending here.
Will Parker. “Commercial Builders Are Losing Their Appetite to Build Anything but Data Centers.” The Wall Street Journal. Jan 19, 2026.
- You can find the pie chart of data center development costs including the 11% that goes to building costs here
Karen Kwok. “How Big Tech’s $630 bln AI splurge will fall short.” Reuters, March 26, 2026.
As noted on the call, building, land cost, etc is a small part of what it costs to build a data center – these companies can afford to properly pay their workers.