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The Standards / Jobs & Local Economy06 / 08

JOBS & LOCAL ECONOMY

Limited permanent jobs, reliance on outside contractors

The Framework

What your community should assess, what controls exist, what policy tools are available, and how to verify compliance.

What to Measure

Permanent employment count, local hiring rate, wage levels

Engineering Controls

Workforce training programs, local procurement systems

Policy Tools

Community benefit agreements, hiring targets

Monitoring

Employment reporting

Example StandardLocal hiring or training fund requirement
Evidence
3 sources
U.S. Census Bureau — Data Center Employment (2025)

Federal statistical agency analysis of data center employment trends from 2016 to 2023 using BLS establishment-level data

  • Data center employment grew 64% from 306,000 to 501,000 workers nationally (2016–2023), but average workers per establishment fell by half as automation increased
  • A typical 250,000 sq ft data center employs ~50 full-time workers (1 job per 5,000 sq ft), compared to ~1 job per 1,500 sq ft for warehouse/logistics facilities
  • Virginia alone directly employed only 5,500 operations workers in 2021 — 0.1% of its workforce — but those workers earned an average of $134,308, more than double the state’s private-sector average
census.gov — Data Center EmploymentRichmond Fed — Virginia’s Data Centers
Loudoun County, VA — Employment & Fiscal Impact

Official county government data from the jurisdiction hosting the world’s largest concentration of data centers

  • Data centers directly employ 3,000+ workers and support 12,000+ ecosystem jobs in Loudoun County; the industry generates $890M in annual tax revenue
  • For every $1 in county services data centers consume, they return $26 in tax revenue; this has enabled Loudoun to maintain the lowest property tax rate in Northern Virginia
  • Tax revenue has funded $1B in road improvements and 36 new schools over 15 years, though direct on-site employment density remains low relative to the $41B in assessed property value
loudoun.gov — Data Centersloudoun.gov — Tax Revenue FAQ
Brookings Institution — Community Benefit Agreements

Policy research from a leading nonpartisan think tank analyzing how CBAs can structure local employment and investment commitments

  • Typical data center projects generate ~2,400 construction jobs but only ~150 permanent operations roles (a 16:1 ratio); Prineville, OR enterprise zone agreements require operators to pay at least 150% of the county median wage
  • Microsoft’s Quincy, WA campus: 670 full-time employees across 21 buildings, a $108M school bond funded primarily by data center property taxes, and a donated water reuse utility saving 380M gallons of potable water annually
  • Brookings recommends legally binding CBAs with measurable benchmarks for local hiring, workforce training, and infrastructure funding — noting that enforceable language with penalties and independent monitoring remains rare
brookings.edu — CBAs for Data Centersbrookings.edu — Long-Term Local Prosperity