The Data Center Job Boom Is Real
Here’s what it means for North Carolina.
Two new reports from the Indeed Hiring Lab put concrete numbers on what the data center build-out means for workers and the picture is striking enough that North Carolina’s policymakers and workforce developers should be paying close attention.
The first report, released in July, documented the surge in employer demand. The second, released this month, follows the workers. Together, they tell a story about a labor market transformation that is already underway, and about what North Carolina stands to gain if it positions itself to compete.
The demand is surging
Data center-related job postings on Indeed have more than doubled over the last two years. Six out of every 1,000 U.S. job postings are now data center-related, up from two per 1,000 in May 2023. Job seekers are responding, searches including data center keywords have doubled since the start of 2026 alone, and are eight times higher than in early 2022. Total data center keyword searches have exceeded one million so far this year.
The top search terms tell the story of what kind of jobs these are. “Technician” leads by a wide margin, followed by “engineer” and “electrician.” Job seekers are looking for skilled trades and technical roles, exactly the workforce North Carolina’s community college system is built to develop.
These jobs pay significantly more than their equivalents
Installation workers at data centers earn a 42 percent wage premium over comparable non-data center roles, roughly $10 more per hour. The premium extends up the career ladder. Facilities managers moving into data center roles see a median annual raise of $50,000, construction managers and superintendents gain $30,000, and network engineers gain $25,000.
Benefits are equally competitive. Nine in ten Installation and Maintenance postings advertise an employer 401(k) plan, compared to 48 percent of non-data center equivalents. Parental leave appears four to eight times more often than in comparable roles elsewhere. Relocation assistance is 2.7 times more common in Installation and Maintenance data center postings than in similar jobs outside the industry.
The workers are local — which matters for North Carolina communities
One of the most important findings in the Indeed research is that 55 percent of applications to data center job postings come from within the same metro or micropolitan area. Despite reports of temporary worker villages built around remote data center sites, the majority of applicants are already living in these communities. For North Carolina, that means the economic benefit of data center investment flows directly to local workers, not an imported workforce that leaves when the build-out ends.
That local connection makes the investment in workforce development that North Carolina has made through its community college system directly relevant. Hyperscalers are increasingly building their own upskilling programs in partnership with local institutions, and North Carolina has the infrastructure to be a preferred partner.
The honest trade-offs
The Indeed research is candid about the conditions that come with premium pay. IT professionals at data centers are nearly 40 times as likely to work nights compared to equivalent roles elsewhere. More than a quarter of data center job postings require up to 50 percent travel and on-call requirements are significantly higher than in comparable positions. These are real considerations for workers and families weighing their options.
The question of job permanence is also worth watching. Only two in every 1,000 data center postings are advertised as temporary, five times lower than comparable non-data center postings, but the researchers note that local incentive agreements often require employers to post permanent positions regardless of how long individual roles actually last. Constructing a data center requires thousands of workers, operating one requires far fewer.
What this means for North Carolina
North Carolina ranks fifteenth in the nation with 97 data centers. Duke Energy projects that electricity demand in North Carolina will nearly double over the next decade, driven largely by data centers, advanced manufacturing, and population growth — and has already secured 7.6 gigawatts in signed energy service agreements with data center customers, with 5 gigawatts already under construction. The demand for workers will grow alongside that infrastructure.
The opportunity is real, but so is the competition. States across the country are actively working to position their workforce development infrastructure to capture data center jobs. North Carolina’s community college system, its business climate, and its existing base of digital infrastructure give it genuine advantages — but those advantages have to be backed by policy decisions that allow investment to move forward.
The workers are searching. The jobs are being posted. The question for North Carolina is whether we make it as easy as possible to connect the two here.