Illinois needs
ironworkers for its data centers

Illinois is building 3.8 GW of new AI data centers across 14 sites. On a data center, ironworkers put up the steel frame the building and its heavy gear sit on.

Ironworkers — worth training up: YES, big shortage. At the busiest point the data centers need about 1,030 ironworkers, but only about 812 of Illinois's ironworkers are free to take it on — the rest are busy with their regular jobs, which do not stop. That leaves Illinois short about 218. When builders cannot find enough ironworkers, the ones already working put in overtime (bigger paychecks), and builders pay to train new people and bring in workers from other states.

Illinois has 14 data-center sites in the works, with 3.8 GW still to build. That keeps ironworkers busy for years: as one job winds down, the next one is starting, so the work does not dry up after a single build.

Illinois ironworkers earn about $101,030 a year on average. Data-center work pays more than that, and when a trade is short, overtime can push experienced ironworkers well over $100,000 a year, with health care and a pension through the union.

It is the same across the country: builders cannot find enough skilled workers. The U.S. needs about 140,000 more trade workers by 2030 to build all the data centers, and most builders say hiring is their hardest problem. Microsoft's president has called the shortage of electricians the biggest thing slowing data centers down.

The building work runs a few years, not forever — but Illinois has enough lined up to keep you busy, and the skills carry over to every other big job in the state. To start, look at the Illinois ironworkers apprenticeship programs. That is the way in. Sources: a national survey of data-center building plans, plus U.S. jobs and pay data.