With entry-level office jobs disappearing and thousands of electricians nearing retirement, skilled trades are becoming an unexpected opportunity for Gen Z.
By Andrea Bossi
Essence
https://www.essence.com/
In the chaos that is the U.S. job market in 2026, youth unemployment is starkly high. In other words, Gen Z is finding it more challenging to land a job after school, and entry-level positions are slowly evaporating in the wake of so-called AI-inspired layoffs and job cuts.
This has all led to some surprising opportunities opening up, especially in traditionally less exciting and sexy job areas. Accounting is just one example we’ve seen. Another one on the horizon of an opportunity boom? Apparently, working in electricity.
With the exponential adoption of AI, there’s been an expansion of AI data centers and focus on building even more. These may cost a whopping $6.7 trillion worldwide only to keep up with demand, per McKinsey & Company research. This moment requires electricians who know how to develop and staff said data centers.
“Without an army of electricians to build out data centers, the future of U.S. economic growth could be in jeopardy,” according to Fortune. More than 300,000 new electricians are projected to be needed across the next decade to fulfill AI-related needs.
Why does this leave the door open for Gen Z in particular? Because a lot of current electricians are on the brink of retiring. Almost 30% of the workforce is between the ages of 50 and 70, with about 200,000 total expected to retire across the next ten years, per Fortune.
“The electrician shortage is quite dire,” a senior fellow at the Brookings Center for Technology Innovation told Fortune. “Those people are in short supply all across the country, and this has become a leading barrier to data center construction.”
But there are still some significant cultural barriers.
“Gen Z workers report persistent cultural barriers to vocational training,” McKinsey reported in separate research. Not only does some of the young generation “perceive a stigma associated with choosing vocational school over a traditional four-year university,” which is similar to the apprenticeships electrician jobs typically require, but the generation’s work preferences don’t align. Gen Z tends to go for flexible jobs that offer development and advancement, rather than being stuck in a repetitive environment with little opportunity to grow. “The on-site and highly structured nature of construction and manufacturing jobs typically doesn’t map to these preferences,” the report continued.
As the future of white-collar jobs fall into uncertainty, trades are entering the limelight again for being more reliable work. At least for now, robots aren’t to take over plumbing, HVAC, and electrician work, leaving the door open for those willing to try something new.
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