The “Jobless” Industrial Revolution
The most striking economic finding is that data centers represent a massive decoupling of capital investment from labor.
Fewer Jobs than a Walmart: A causal estimate of net job flows shows that a data center creates fewer permanent jobs than a Walmart Supercenter.
The Ratio is Extreme: Microsoft’s data center in Quincy, Washington, had up to 500 workers during construction but now employs only 50 full-time staff. Similarly, a $1 billion+ facility might employ only 30 to 50 permanent people—mostly security and HVAC technicians,.
