Data center boom leads to surge in demand for electricians — and interest in joining trade

The North Texas Electrical Training Alliance said apprentices can earn double pay at some jobs. Now, 10 times more people are applying to its training programs.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — Applications to the North Texas Electrical Training Center have climbed to about 700 a month, up from 60 to 70 a month just a few years ago, as a surge in data center construction drives demand for electricians, the center’s training director said.

“Demand has grown crazy as of late,” said Jason Allen. “It’s gone exponential.”

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Allen said the program now receives about 10 times more applicants than it has spots to fill, and he’s looking to expand to keep up.

Allen said data centers are the main reason for the demand. 

“We have a bunch of them going and they require a lot of electricians and that is the big driver there,” he said, adding that the trend has been building over the last three years.

“There’s just not enough of us out there,” Allen said. “And so when there’s not enough manpower you need to get people [and] the way you do that is incentives.”

Allen said pay is a major draw. Wages start at $20.33 an hour plus benefits, he said, but some companies are also offering overtime incentives, including paying time-and-a-half and double-time.

“There is a substantial amount of money to be made out there in the field for sure,” Allen said.

He also credited social media for the jump in applications. 

“I think a big part of it is people on social media showing their checks,” Allen said. “People talking about how much money you can make in the trades has been a big part of the push.”

Allen said the four year apprenticeship training involves 8,000 hours on the job — and a day in a classroom setting once every two weeks. 

“Our goal is to just train the best general electricians out there with our apprentices doing it safely every day,” Allen said.

One of those apprentices, Jacob Hamilton, is learning the fundamentals of electrical circuits in class at the training center. He said he’s already on his second data center job.

He said the data center work often brings extra hours. 

“A lot of these calls have overtime and more than just 40 hours,” Hamilton said. “A lot of them are paying double time, so there’s a lot of money to be made out there.”

Hamilton said he would encourage others to enter the field. 

“Right now is a good time to get in and start working for sure,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity, a lot of stuff to learn here.”