‘Dirty Jobs’ host just revealed the lucrative salary Gen Z electricians make from AI data centers—the number is eye-popping

Dirty Jobs founder and TV host Mike Rowe recently said that at a time when many companies are laying off white-collar workers, there is a skilled labor shortage threatening AI ’s current $10 trillion infrastructure boom—and solving that gap is key to ensuring the future health of the U.S. economy. Rowe, whose popular series runs on the Discovery Channel, spoke on Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi’s Power Players podcast on Tuesday. He said the time has come to refocus on blue-collar jobs such as electricians, claiming that some Gen Z electricians (at the center of the AI data center boom) are making as much as $280,000. “The electricians I interviewed and met two months ago in a data center in Plano, Texas, all under 30 years old, all making $240,000 to $280,000 a year, all with as much overtime as they want, none with any debt, all three . . . were poached three times in the prior 18 months,” Rowe said . Those AI data center builds have created a high demand for electricians, HVAC technicians, welders, and construction managers on-site , with construction workers on data center projects earning a premium of about 32% (or $81,800 per year over traditional construction), according to Fortune . And those working on data center projects in Northern Virginia and Texas report even higher annual salaries between $140,000 and $280,000. Outside of AI data centers, blue-collar jobs such as plumbers, mechanics, and technicians also remain in high demand. In addition to those jobs, a recent report from Resume Now found that firefighters topped the list of skilled labor jobs that are unlikely to be replaced by artificial intelligence. Here’s a brief summary of that report’s findings on skilled labor job salaries. Firefighters: Latest median annual wage: $59,280 Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers: Latest median annual wage: $123,220 Roof bolters, mining: Latest median annual wage: $78,540 Logging fallers : Latest median annual wage: $52,100