rush to build data centers<\/a>, they are drawing from the same talent that homebuilders rely on\u00a0\u2014 and often come in with bigger pockets to pay. Between 45% and 70% of the entire budget for data center construction goes to electrical subcontractors, according to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a labor union that represents electricians.<\/p>\nThe data center in the Abilene area, for example, offers electricians double the wages his subcontractors can as officials aim to finish the center\u2019s construction by the end of the year, Lantrip said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cMy subcontractors don\u2019t have the people. My electrician, he lost two of his lead men and several of his helpers to the data center,\u201d Lantrip said. \u201cOf course, the guys got to do good for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Gas]()
<\/p>\n
Gas turbine towers are lit outside the Abilene DC1 Stargate Project data center in Abilene on April 21, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ronald W. Erdrich\/For the Texas Tribune<\/p>\n
A strain on demand<\/p>\n
The rapid buildout of data centers means a critical strain on demand for electricians, in large part because that workforce is aging out.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThe data center workforce impact begins with a truly large construction boom, but then tapers to a more specialized, smaller, longer term operational employment that does involve a lot of electrical and technician roles,\u201d said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. \u201cThis is really going to stress those pipelines.\u201d <\/p>\n
National trends show roughly 20,000 electricians leaving the workforce each year, with 1 in 3 electricians between the ages of 50 and 70 and nearing retirement.<\/p>\n
Texas has about 71,000 electricians employed, according to federal labor data. Even as training programs expand, the pipeline cannot quickly adjust to this spike in demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Electrician]()
<\/p>\n
Electrician Igor Meocec builds out a computer work station in a Walmart distribution center in Lancaster in this 2024 photo. Texas has about 71,000 electricians employed, according to federal labor data. Even as training programs expand, the pipeline cannot quickly adjust to this spike in demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/Dallas Morning News![\"Electrician]()
<\/p>\n
Electrician Igor Meocec builds out a computer work station in a Walmart distribution center in Lancaster in this 2024 photo. Homebuilders that used to compete with commercial projects now are competing with data centers for electricians.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t done a good enough job of backfilling with new people coming in,\u201d said Scott Norman, the CEO of the Texas Association of Builders, referring to experienced workers retiring faster than new ones entering the trade.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Becoming a licensed electrician requires years of apprenticeship and hands-on experience, which limits how fast new workers can be added.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just snap your finger and say, in six months, we\u2019re going to have all these other electricians,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n
Recruiting across state lines<\/p>\n
Texas is loosening licensing requirements to bring workers from across state lines.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Since November, the state has made it easier for electricians from Iowa, Alabama and Arkansas to transfer their licenses to Texas. The idea is that instead of requiring experienced workers from other areas to start over with testing and certification, Texas could quickly tap into an existing pool of trained electricians through a reciprocity agreement with those states.<\/p>\n
State lawmakers last year sought to expand such partnerships, directing the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to maximize reciprocity agreements with other states, so long as the level of training and testing is comparable.<\/p>\n
Cameron Dodd, a journeyman electrician and the political director of the Austin chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said it\u2019s too early to see the effects. Still, he\u2019s optimistic that broadening eligibility will attract experienced workers who can step directly onto job sites, particularly for large, labor-intensive projects such as data centers and industrial developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to recruit more folks who are ideally already licensed \u2026 All the baby boomers and older electricians are going to retire,\u201d Dodd said. \u201cThe reciprocity agreements, that should help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Recruiting students<\/p>\n
Various programs within the state are upping their efforts as well. For example, Texas State Technical College aims to grow its programs that train students in electrical skills. Its college officials are advertising the opportunity and higher wages that come with this workforce at job fairs.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, smaller builders are feeling the strain. For them, competing for a shrinking pool of electricians often means delaying projects or taking on the cost of training themselves.<\/p>\n
Scotty Wristen, the owner of WE Electric in Abilene, lost five workers to the data centers. He can afford to pay employees only $20 an hour. The data centers outmatch him at $35 an hour, in addition to overtime and per diem benefits, he said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them were guys that I\u2019ve had for eight years, five years. They came, they got trained, and they left to go out there,\u201d Wristen said. \u201cI don\u2019t blame them. \u2026 It\u2019s less strenuous work but more time on the clock, or more money to take home to the family.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Scotty]()
<\/p>\n
Scotty Wristen, an Abilene electrician, wires a fuse box April 21 in a new Abilene home.\u00a0Wristen has taken to recruiting young people as apprentices in his industry in response to the Abilene DC1 data center depleting the labor pool of local electricians. \u201cI train anybody I can get. We hire them, get them an apprentice card and start their time on it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ronald W. Erdrich\/For the Texas Tribune<\/p>\n
Wristen tried to get trained electricians on board. But after dozens of students visited his job sites with their teachers, none came back for a job, he said.<\/p>\n
To fill the gap, Wristen is hiring teens as apprentices right out of high school.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re new. They don\u2019t even have a set of tools,\u201d Wristen said. \u201cIt\u2019s usually about four or five months of hell where we have little mistakes that cost us time and money. It\u2019s fixable. \u2026 And once they are trained in it, you don\u2019t have those little deals anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Texas Tribune<\/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\nArticle continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electricians work on a home in July in Hunt. Texas doesn\u2019t have enough electricians to meet the demands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[933,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-292636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austinlatest","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}