HCM & HRIS

As AI wipes off lakhs of jobs across industries, Blackstone COO Jon Gray predicts thousands of new jobs being created

May 15, 2026
www.ETHRWorld.com
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TOI Tech Desk

< />As generative AI wipes out lakhs of white-collar jobs across industries, Blackstone’s president and chief operating officer Jon Gray says that technology is simultaneously fuelling a surge in blue-collar employment. According to a report by Fortune, speaking at the Milken Institute, Gary produced a “huge boom in skilled trades” over the next five years, driven by massive investments in AI infrastructure. Gray pointed to QTS, a Blackstone portfolio company which operates or is developing more than 75 data centers across the world. A year ago, about 10,000 workers were on QTS job sites; by year’s end, that number is expected to quadruple to 40,000. “Between the energy, the physical infrastructure, the data centers, the reindustrialization—something very powerful is happening,” Gray said.<br><br><!– PROMOSLOT_M –><div class=” article-detail-ad-slot=”” captionrendered=”1″ data-src=”https://etimg.etb2bimg.com/photo/131124515.cms” height=”442″ loading=”eager” src=”https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/images/default.jpg” width=”590″></img></p> </div> <p>Global spending on data centers could reach $7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey, creating lucrative opportunities for electricians, pipefitters, and HVAC technicians. A single data center can be 40–50% larger than a Walmart Supercenter and require up to 1,500 workers during peak construction.</p> <h2>Higher pay for skilled trades</h2> <p>Construction workers on data center projects earn an average of $81,800 annually, or $39.33 an hour — about 32% more than those on non-data center builds, according to Skillit, an AI-powered hiring platform. This wage premium reflects the specialized skills required to build facilities powering the AI economy.</p> <h2>Talent shortage looms</h2> <p>Despite increasing demand and pay, filling the roles of skilled trades remains a big challenge. According to the US Department of Education around 2.1 million skilled trade jobs will go unfilled by 2030 and this would cost around $1 trillion to the economy annually. The shortage of employees stem from multiple factors such as aging workforce, decades of emphasis on four-year degrees over vocational training, and surging demand tied to AI infrastructure.</p> <h2>Companies rebuilding the pipeline</h2> <p>To address this gap, the companies are now investing heavily on the development of workforce. The charitable arm of Blackstone recently committed $3 million to launch the Blackstone Skilled Futures. This is a training initiative started in association with the Arizona State University, Maricopa Community Colleges, and local nonprofits.QTS currently has three data centers under development in Phoenix.</p> <p>Meanwhile, Lowe’s announced a $250 million investment to train 250,000 people in plumbing, carpentry, and electrical work over the next decade. CEO Marvin Ellison said the initiative is critical as AI reshapes the workforce: “In a world where administrative and analytical occupations are going to be increasingly dominated with the acceleration of AI, we think the skilled-trade initiative is going to be even more important.” </p> <div> <div aria-label=

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