Google will spend $50 million to train more than 300,000 skilled workers in an effort to bridge the skilled worker gap in the United States.
The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) has hit a snag, namely a skilled worker shortage. There simply aren’t enough workers trained to build AI programs.
To bridge the gap, Google is offering up $50 million to train some 300,000 skilled workers. It’s a move that follows a $115 million training program Meta started for skilled trade workers announced earlier this week and a $150 million national fellowship program from Anthropic that will place 1,000 skilled tradespeople in nonprofits.
And the timing couldn’t be more appropriate. JLL Research says some 2.1 million skilled trades jobs – including electricians, HVAC professionals, plumbers, pipe fitters and the like – will go unfilled between now and 2030.
skilled trades and gen z
When it comes to Generation Z, skilled trades jobs do not seem to be a popular career path. There are many factors pushing the generation away from these jobs, including some antiquated views about working in a manufacturing or hands-on labor environment.
I chatted with Aaron Prather, the director of robotics and autonomous systems at ASTM International, about this very topic last year.
Part of the problem, Prather said, is the way manufacturing is presented in classrooms as being dirty and archaic, a representation that is a far cry from the modern plant floor.
“Some of them, sadly, are still looking at textbooks that show factories of earlier times and how they were just dark and dirty places, and that’s just not what modern manufacturing is,” he said in an exclusive interview with Plant Engineering.
trades are critical for infrastructure
Even though the jobs might not be popular, they are critical.
Dr. Paul Morgan, global chief operating officer of real estate management services with JLL Research said every organization relies upon tradespeople in some capacity.
“Tradespeople are the custodians of the physical infrastructure upon which every organization depends,” he said. “We’re at a critical inflection point where demand for skilled trades is accelerating while the available workforce continues to shrink. This systemic crisis threatens how we power our data centers, cool our laboratories, secure our manufacturing facilities and maintain the spaces where millions of Americans work every day. We risk operational disruptions that will ripple through the entire economy, affecting everything from construction timelines to energy costs to building safety. The window to act is now, before the gap becomes insurmountable.”
How tradespeople impact big tech
As for Google, Meta and Anthropic, it’s no surprise these tech giants are clamoring to help bridge the massive skill gap.
They rely on skilled tradespeople to develop the data centers their AI platforms demand. Without electricians, HVAC technicians, welders and other skilled tradespeople, there is no AI.
