00:00America's silent army of skilled tradespeople is retiring faster than they can be replaced,
00:05and that's a big problem for the AI race. The skilled worker shortage is really only
00:09getting worse. Fortune got exclusive access to a new report from JLL that shows an estimated
00:152.1 million skilled trades jobs in the U.S. will go unfilled by 2030. That means a loss of
00:21$1 trillion annually, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Education.
00:26Skilled workers include electricians, HVAC technicians, pipe fitters, plumbers,
00:32and other maintenance workers. Skilled trades workers are critical to the AI race because
00:37they help to build and maintain the data centers that ultimately power the AI tools that we all use.
00:44But workers are retiring faster than they can be replaced. And the supply to demand ratio is in crisis
00:51mode. Last year, nearly 600,000 jobs were posted for skilled trades positions in the U.S.
00:57But only about 150,000 new workers entered the labor pool through apprenticeship programs,
01:04according to JLL. Executives from Ford CEO Jim Farley to Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison have been warning
01:11about the skilled trade worker shortage for a while now. The Lowe's Foundation has even committed $250
01:17million over the next decade to train 250,000 skilled trades workers in plumbing, carpentry,
01:24and electrical work. And BlackRock announced a $100 million Future Builders initiative earlier this year.
01:31As America races to build out AI data centers, it needs skilled tradespeople to keep its most advanced
01:37technologies from going dark.
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