Data Center Construction Hiring in Spotlight

Building a data center requires a variety of skill sets, and typically involves many types of trades and contractors. The hiring of contractors and sub-contractors usually gets little attention outside the industry or work site. That's changing, as seen in a series of articles (including one this weekend by the Salt Lake Tribune) tracking the hiring process at the 1 billion data center project for the National Security Agency at Camp Williams.

As data center projects emerge as important economic development opportunities, they are increasingly seen as a potential source of jobs. In a difficult economy, data center construction attract tremendous interest from job seekers. And as local governments use tax incentives to lure major data centers, residents are watching to see whether these projects create jobs for local residents or out-of-state contractors.

Mindful of this, Facebook has posted a list of the contractors (see the Notes tab) that it is hiring for its new data center in Prineville, Oregon, with contact information for each company. "The Facebook Prineville Data Center project will seek to provide as many local construction opportunities for workers and companies as possible, and seek to purchase materials locally whenever possible," the company says.