Meta's Louisiana Data Center Builds a New Labor Pipeline

Meta says its Hyperion data center in rural Richland Parish will bring more than 7,500 trade workers to the site at peak construction and support 1,000 operational jobs when complete. Nearby students are paying nearly $3,700 for a four-week course meant to prepare them for data-center work. The project offers a local route to higher-paid jobs, but students seeking those positions shoulder the training cost.

Jobs and the Training Cost

The facility covers nearly 10 million square feet, making it Meta's largest-ever data center. Louisiana Delta Community College runs its Data Center Technician program at campuses in West Monroe and Winnsboro. The course covers equipment operation and workplace safety, and students can earn several certificates.

Eric Crowe Jr., 27, signed up after working for FedEx, handling packages and driving for an average of $14 an hour. He hopes to earn about $25 to $30 an hour in the new industry. “Here, I could make about $25 to $30 per hour. It's a no-brainer for lots of people to pivot,” he told Business Insider.

Trey Wadley, 30, comes from the automotive industry and hopes to work locally on Meta's project. He recently welcomed a baby girl and said he likely would have looked for jobs in Texas without the project. He came across the program while scrolling Facebook, which Meta owns.

Agriculture drives a major part of the region's economy, and Louisiana has no state minimum wage law. Dan McCarty, director of Workforce Trades at Louisiana Delta Community College, said entry-level positions could pay as much as $24 an hour. Students who graduated told him they reached $27 to $28 an hour within six months.

Contractors and Pay

The first class graduated in March. IES Communications, which employs people working on Meta's project, offered jobs to all 11 students. McCarty said the program now produces about 24 graduates a month. “In the past, a lot of people, including myself, had to leave here to find the good jobs,” he said. “Now they're 30 minutes down the road.”

John Bradley, a broadband workforce development instructor, said the program prepares graduates for contractors working specifically with Meta. “We have a special email that we give to different contractors we spoke with that are waiting for them to graduate our class,” he said. Bradley said graduates don't have to work for Meta; they can also use the skills at banks and IT departments.

Business Insider reported in August that data-center facility managers had median pay of $134,000, 64% higher than other facilities managers. Data-center project managers had median pay of $115,000, 12% higher than similar roles at other facilities. Those figures cover management roles, not the hourly work Crowe Jr. and Wadley hope to get. The article doesn't give a pay figure for Meta's 1,000 operational jobs.

Local Concerns

Richland Parish residents have mixed feelings about the project. Some expect jobs and a boost to the local economy; others worry about environmental effects and disruptions to daily life. Crowe Jr. and Wadley said they understand those concerns. “I think we should focus more on solutions to how we can coexist with it,” Wadley said.

McCarty said the college has a backlog of students seeking entry and hopes to expand the program. The September class practiced splicing fiber-optic cables and worked in a mock data center on campus. The program directs graduates toward contractors tied to Meta's build, while the project's stated employment figures distinguish peak construction labor from the smaller number of operational jobs planned after completion.