A new Redfin survey found that a majority (53%) of Americans oppose building a data center in their area. A Politico poll found that most people are against constructing these facilities within three miles of their neighborhoods. Other research shows that many people are entirely opposed to the construction of data centers, with some advocating a moratorium. But the statistics show that data centers and the broader artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure buildout are resulting in a blue-collar boom across the United States.
America’s Blue-Collar Boom
Politicians on both sides of the aisle have urged US companies to restore blue-collar work. The technology industry has heeded this demand, employing thousands of workers to both construct and maintain data centers. And yet, there is a growing bipartisan chorus of policymakers at all levels of government calling for a halt to the expansion of these facilities.
New Census Bureau figures show that spending on data-center construction surged 23% year-over-year in May, with these facilities accounting for 8% of total spending. Various manufacturing surveys show that factory activity related to the AI buildout accounts for a sizable share of the sector's growth. Business investment, much of it from data centers, robotics, and AI, has accounted for about half of national gross domestic product (GDP) over the last couple of quarters.
The most important metric for many armchair economists and voters might be the number of jobs added, directly and indirectly. Since August 2025, construction payrolls have shot up by almost 100,000 to a record high of 8.331 million.
Some might question the correlation, but take it from Anirban Basu, chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group, who told The Wall Street Journal: "Beyond data centers, there's not really much moving construction forward. There's just not much depth to construction spending right now."
Indeed, it seems like every day there is a new announcement from one of the AI hyperscalers – Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms, Oracle, SpaceX, and others – of a new data center being built. Mark Zuckerberg’s social media juggernaut, for example, announced earlier this month that its investment in a 3,200-acre rural Louisiana data center will exceed $50 billion, from $10 billion when the project was first unveiled in 2024.
Wall Street might not like it, but scores of US tech giants keep raising their capital expenditures (capex) forecasts, with this year’s total likely to top $1 trillion. A lot of this money is going to everything from semiconductor manufacturing to AI computing.
Moving forward, the trouble will be filling these positions. The good news is that the private sector is investing billions of dollars in workforce skills and developing training centers to ensure the next generation of blue-collar men and women will be able to do these jobs.
"22,000 new construction jobs were created just last month because of the data center boom. The top four hyperscalers are investing something like $600 billion this year," David Sacks, a former White House AI czar, said at The Hill & Valley Forum in April. "Blue-collar workers' wages are going up roughly 25 to 30%. Electricians, the guys who hang drywall, pour concrete, build roads, install equipment."
Envy of the World
Over the last 50 years, white-collar work was the envy of the world. These jobs paid better and even offered benefits and pensions. Today, it might be the reverse: The blue-collar boom will make this type of work the envy of the world. Because there is a shortage of these professionals – electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and welders – their compensation will inevitably rise due to rocketing demand, giving young Generation Zers and Generation Alpha an advantage over their millennials and older Gen Z cohorts.
It makes perfect sense why 79% of Americans with postgraduate degrees oppose the construction of data centers in their community, according to an Emerson College poll.
It is the same reason for the rise of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the broader democratic socialist movement: The overeducated are outraged that their expertise in gender studies and Native American symbolism is worth very little in today’s economy.
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