The AI Data-Center Boom Is a Job-Creation Bust

Roughly 1,500 workers build the Stargate/OpenAI data center in Abilene, Texas. The one-million-square-foot facility needs about 100 permanent employees — fewer than the 500 projected for a cheese-packaging plant one-quarter its size in the same city. Data centers occupy large land areas but employ far fewer people per square foot than factories, warehouses or offices.