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Thursday, Aug 27, 2026

Do data centers have low rates of permanent job creation compared to other sectors?

Brian Arola, MinnPost
yes

The data center industry lags behind other industries in permanent job creation.

Developers and city officials cite job growth as a reason to build data centers in Minnesota. But while these projects can be boons for construction, the rate of permanent employees is low in relation to investment costs.

Research from Virginia, a state with an established data center industry, found that projects there created one direct permanent job for every $54 million invested. In Iowa, a $576 million data center investment came with a requirement to create 31 jobs – about one job per $18.6 million. In contrast, across key sectors of the economy, a $1 million investment supports, on average, 17 jobs.

Some critics argue that jobs shouldn’t be a deciding factor when weighing data center proposals. The bigger issue, one analyst concluded, is governments handing out generous subsidies to attract developers.

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