Data centers’ job impact is spread out
April 27, 2023 – Virginia Business
Written by Emily Freehling
The Lego Group’s July 2022 announcement that it would build a $1 billion Chesterfield County manufacturing plant came with the promise of 1,760 new jobs. Meanwhile, Amazon.com Inc.’s 20-year, $35 billion investment to expand its data center footprint across Virginia is projected to generate only 1,000 direct jobs.
The data center industry ’s jobs-to-investment ratio is far lower than many other economic development categories.
In some ways, this is part of the appeal of the facilities. Not having lots ofworkers driving to and from data centers saves localities from having to payfor roads, emergency services and schools. But industry proponents alsopoint to ancillary economic impact that data center construction has had inVirginia.
