Zuckerberg: US Needs Hundreds of Thousands of Tradespeople for AI Buildout

On June 11, Mark Zuckerberg emphasized America's urgent need for hundreds of thousands of skilled tradespeople as Meta rolls out its Workforce Academy. The program, first announced June 8, offers free five-week training with guaranteed jobs at Meta data-center sites and pilots in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas. Meta is committing $115 million this year and plans roughly $600 billion in total U.S. infrastructure and jobs spending over the next three years. The initiative addresses a critical labor bottleneck, with the industry needing 349,000 net new workers annually, while also highlighting fewer permanent roles post-construction.