“I don’t think that the case is super compelling for what these data centers are bringing to the table,” Ben Green, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, told Gizmodo. “And I think that is borne out by just how many communities are pushing back against them.”
A data center project may provide thousands of short-term construction jobs in the beginning, but once the facility is up and running, it typically only requires several dozen staffers to oversee operations. According to Green’s research, data centers do not bring in permanent, high-paying tech jobs because they operate as infrastructure projects rather than traditional businesses.
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