Dive Brief:
- Major tech companies are pouring their money into the skilled labor crisis. Google announced Thursday it would invest $50 million into training for the building trades.
- The money will support 14 labor unions and four trade and contractor associations, aiming to reach 300,000 workers across 20 states. The goal is to help level up training and outreach, which will better educate a new wave of workers to help meet the sky high demand on construction projects, including data center builds.
- Google’s announcement follows a similar move from Meta just days earlier. The social media giant on Monday pledged $115 million to form America’s Workforce Academy and create a pipeline of workers for its various projects.
Dive Insight:
Where Google’s effort differs greatly from Meta’s is the end goal.
The investment from the company behind Facebook and Instagram promised free skills training, followed by a job opportunity on data center construction projects in regions where it is pursuing builds.
Google, on the other hand, is investing in workforce development for people interested in the trades “no matter where they want to work,” Maggie Johnson, global head of Google.org, wrote in the post announcing the funds.
The tech giant’s announcement outlined some of the specifics with partners who will use the funds to pursue closing the skilled labor gap.
For example, TradesFutures, an organization created by North America’s Building Trades Unions, will increase union construction career access by scaling placement for apprenticeship readiness and registered apprenticeship programs.
Google previously had invested in the electrical training Alliance — an organization created by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association — intending to train 100,000 electrical workers and 30,000 new apprentices in the U.S. Now, etA will aid local training programs by bringing resources to infrastructure hubs in a mobile training center pilot.
Meanwhile, the United Association's International Training Fund, in partnership with the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, will develop a five-year roadmap for scaling the plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration sectors. That will help give workers skills necessary for the construction and maintenance of infrastructure for data center builds.
Finally, the International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Industry, backed by the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers and Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors, will modernize its coursework and apprentice support and implement new AI tools.
“No single entity can solve this American workforce shortage on its own,” Johnson wrote in the announcement. “There needs to be engagement across industry, civil society and government, so we can build modern on-the-job training and expand apprenticeships together.”
