SCRANTON — Billed by two panelists as a once-in-a-generation opportunity, regional leaders gathered Tuesday to begin formulating ideas to address the growing skilled trades shortage.
Representatives from higher education, workforce development, and industry provided a roadmap for navigating the challenges in the coming years during a digital infrastructure program at Luzerne County Community College’s Scranton location inside the Marketplace at Steamtown.
Led by Bob Durkin, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, and Lindsay Griffin-Boylan, president and CEO of the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce, the discussions centered around collaborative ways to combat an anticipated shortage of approximately 300,000 skilled trade workers across Pennsylvania by 2030.
Nick Lee-Romagnolo, principal, workforce and economic development, Amazon Web Services, noted Amazon’s data center projects in Hazle and Salem townships in Luzerne County and in Kline Twp. in Schuylkill County will demand a large number of skilled trade workers.
“Our estimate for the number of jobs continues to go up,” he said. “There is an entire group of companies outside those data centers that are necessary to operate and maintain the infrastructure. About 15% to 20% of what I work on are data center operators. The other 80% to 85% is construction and skilled trades, fiber optics and telecom, and utility construction. The new work coming for new power infrastructure and new water infrastructure requires people who are represented in this room to do it and do it well, and there are not enough of them. We could and should be going faster if we had more skilled people out there doing the work.”
The Skilled Trade Economy Panel Discussion takes place at the Luzerne County Community College Scranton Center in the Marketplace at Steamtown in downtown Scranton Tuesday, September 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
John Yudichak, president of Luzerne County Community College, center, speaks during the Skilled Trade Economy Panel Discussion at the Luzerne County Community College Scranton Center in the Marketplace at Steamtown in downtown Scranton Tuesday, September 22, 2026. Seated with Yudichak are Bill Burke, vice president of enrollment and student affairs at Johnson College, and Dr. Jill Murray, president of Lackawanna College. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Lackawanna College President Dr. Jill Murray speaks during the Skilled Trade Economy Panel Discussion at the Luzerne County Community College Scranton Center in the Marketplace at Steamtown in downtown Scranton Tuesday, September 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The Skilled Trade Economy Panel Discussion takes place at the Luzerne County Community College Scranton Center in the Marketplace at Steamtown in downtown Scranton Tuesday, September 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Bill Sordoni, CEO of Pennsylvania Midstream, believes the region is well-positioned to reap the benefits of data center development.
“There is a reason why northeastern Pennsylvania has become a little bit of a hotbed of what could be future data center development and future energy development,” he said. “We have great programs and collaborations here to make the labor force even better. If you study any of the places in the world where this has been done well, it’s job creation and it’s funding schools. I’ve been doing this for 50 years in this community and there is nothing like this opportunity.”
Charul Seoni, SVP, Data Center Operations at Corscale Data Centers, stressed the importance of giving young students a first-hand look inside data centers to spur interest.
“I think when a teenager walks into a facility and says, ‘Oh, that’s where my text message is being processed or my (Instagram) message is being processed, it changes their thought process,’” he said. “I think the perception, or misperception, is these are industrial warehouses, whereas they are very highly sophisticated, modern facilities with a lot of opportunities.”