America’s new blue-collar job boom is one nobody saw coming — and it’s just getting started

Red Oak, Texas — Inside a sprawling Texas data center campus, blinking tower lights and rows of neatly organized cables power the technology Americans use every day. Keeping it all running, however, takes an army of electricians, mechanics, technicians and construction workers — and the industry says it needs more of them.

"Unfortunately, there was a war on blue-collar jobs a while back and everybody had to get a four-year degree. I’m so glad that’s over with," Compass Datacenters CEO Chris Crosby told Fox News Digital while giving a glimpse behind the scenes of the infrastructure that powers the digital world.

"I am tired of the elitism that this doesn't create jobs," Crosby said, arguing that blue-collar careers deserve to be taken seriously. He pointed to the workers at Compass’s Red Oak campus and the construction crews who built it.

"You tell that to the 900 people who work here on this campus and you tell that to the thousands of construction workers who have worked here for five years plus," he said.

A SOUTHERN STATE JUST TOOK THE TOP SPOT IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST-GROWING INDUSTRIES

Compass began developing its Red Oak campus, about 20 miles south of Dallas, in 2019.

The site now includes 10 data center buildings totaling about 2.6 million square feet, a Schneider Electric manufacturing facility and a technical college training program. Crosby said more than 600 people work full time at the campus, with roughly 300 more at Schneider Electric.

The construction also requires a range of skilled tradespeople, Crosby said.

"When we look at that type of opportunity, the amount of electricians, the amount of mechanical contractors, the number of builders, the carpenters, the welders, the concrete folk, it’s awesome. We can’t get enough people into this career."

INSIDE THE NEIGHBORHOOD LIVING ON THE EDGE OF AMERICA’S TECH FRONTIER

The demand also reaches beyond construction sites to factories producing data center components. Compass and its partners, Crosby said, have created more than 7,000 permanent factory jobs nationwide.

To help meet the industry’s demand for workers, Compass partnered with Texas State Technical College to build a $12.6 million training facility at its Red Oak campus. The company created its MEI Pathways program—short for Mechanical, Electrical and IT Pathways—to prepare people for those careers.

"The big challenge is how do I get the first step?" Crosby said. "That’s what MEI Pathways is designed to do."

The program is open to anyone interested in the field and does not require prior qualifications, Crosby said. It is designed to train workers for the broader industry, not just for Compass.

Crosby said building that workforce will be increasingly important as data centers expand and argued that the facilities can bring jobs and tax revenue to the communities where they are built.

"Data centers are where the economic engine is going to be going forward," he said. "You’re talking about massive amounts of jobs, economic activity and tax revenue growth."