Baton Rouge will host Metaβs first class of an , marking another sizeable investment from the tech giant in Louisiana.
The company, which is investing billions in AI data centers across the country, including a massive project in Richland Parish, will launch Americaβs Workforce Academy in four U.S. cities to prepare workers for AI infrastructure and data center construction jobs. Meta is fully funding the program and will provide lodging and a daily stipend for participants, who will receive a guaranteed job offer with a Meta contractor after completing the four-to-five-week training program.
"The AI revolution is bringing change but also historic opportunities,β Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice-chairman of Meta, said in a release. βSkilled workers electrified rural America one pole at a time. They manned the factories that built the arsenal that won World War II. Now a new generation will pour the foundations and lay the fiber that secures American strength in this new age.β
Other training locations include Houston, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. The academy is in partnership with National Urban League, commercial real estate firm CBRE, Associated Builders and Contractors, Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce and local organizations in other training location cities.
The academy is intended to address the shortage of AI infrastructure construction workers, who come from various skilled trades. Demand for robotics technicians, HVAC engineers and trades workers , according to an analysis of more than 150 million job postings in that time period by consulting firm Randstad.
The company is already investing more than $30 billion in the construction of AI data centers in Louisiana, Indiana, Texas and Oklahoma and the academy will bring an additional $115 million in investment across its four locations. The Richland Parish data center is expected to create 5,000 construction jobs and 500 operational jobs.
The selection of Baton Rouge as the site of the academyβs first class is a sign of the lasting benefits of an investment from a company with a global reach like Meta, said Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said. The cityβs strong industrial contracting base helps too, she added.
Though the training is prompted by the recent, large data center investments, the academy will have resounding impacts beyond the tech industry in Louisiana, she said.
βNow we have a whole system that is building itself, its infrastructure and more importantly, its funding mechanism around training for the jobs that both exist today and we know are coming,β she said.
Meta isnβt the only giant funding skilled trades training. Investment firm BlackRock announced the launch of a $100 million earlier this year that will connect workers with training opportunities, aiming to help 50,000 workers over the next five years. Microsoft partnered with North Americaβs Building Trades Unions to to ensure those building AI infrastructure reap the technologyβs benefits.
Louisiana Works projects the construction industry to employ more than 140,000 by 2032. Thereβs currently about 300 jobs posted for data center-related work, for roles like estimator, project manager, and thermal technician, according to aΒ .
The skilled trades worker shortage existed in Louisiana prior to the data center boom, Louisiana Works Secretary Susie Schowen said, and Metaβs training academy will help close the gap by eliminating the financial cost for workers to participate. She hopes the program will serve as a model for other employers and industries.
Recent Louisiana Works efforts to have prepared the agency to connect with the academy, she said.
βThe fact that Meta is committing this amount of funding to a program that is this ambitious gets everybody's attention and it really helps to solidify the fact that these jobs really are a massive opportunity right now,β Schowen said. βThere's always a little bit of skepticism here and there when we're talking about sudden shifts in workforce demand but this really illustrates that it's real.β