By Fergus Gregg

Topic: AI

Sat 25 Jul 2026 at 5:06am

Sat 25 Jul 2026 at 6:15am

Data centres say they create jobs, but how many do they really create?

Data centres are a hot topic of debate in Australia.

Despite controversy, one argument for data centres is that they create jobs.

But how many jobs do data centres actually create?

What are data centres?

Data centres are huge buildings that store digital data.

They support AI systems like Google search and ChatGPT.

They need a lot of land, water, and electricity.

Australia is one of the world's biggest investors in data centres.

There are 251 data centres in Australia, with more being built.

How much water and power do data centres use?

A 1 megawatt data centre uses 25.5 million litres of water per year.

The AirTrunk data centre in Sydney will use a lot of power.

Data centres could use a quarter of Sydney's drinking water by 2029.

Data centres used 2% of Australia's electricity last year.

South Korea is spending billions on AI and chip manufacturing.

The Australian government wants data centres to use clean energy.

Data centres must report their water usage and be resilient to drought.

How many jobs do data centres create?

Data centres create thousands of jobs in the short term.

A report found that building data centres supports many workers.

But once a data centre is built, the number of jobs decreases.

Data centres are automated, so they don't create many jobs.

Data centres support construction workers.

Only 20-88 full-time employees are needed to run a data centre.

A data centre in the US has about 50 full-time workers.

Data centre construction takes 12-18 months and needs 1,500 workers.

Data centres do create jobs, but not as many as claimed.

A construction boom could lead to a shortage of workers for housing.

Data centre construction needs specialized workers.

The jobs in data centres are important, but limited.

There are over 1,100 job listings for data centre technicians in Australia.

Many jobs offer high salaries.

A technician in Melbourne can earn $149,000 per year.

Another job offers up to $55 per hour for an HVAC technician.

A senior facilities technician can earn $145,000 per year.

A day shift electrical technician can earn $137,000 per year.

See more ABC coverage.

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