Intel seeks to hire 7,000 US construction workers amid labor shortage
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Obtaining 7,000 workers is the first great challenge for the construction of the most important industrial project in the history of Ohio: two ships of the Intel company in which semiconductors will be manufactured
Technology company Intel is looking for 7,000 workers to build its new semiconductor complex in Ohio.
The Intel industrial complex is considered the most important economic development project in this state , since it will involve the hiring of more than 3,000 employees once it is in operation by 2025.
But not only that, the construction of the new Intel semiconductor plant involves an investment of close to $20 billion dollars near Columbus, the capital of Ohio.
However, the first great challenge that the company is facing is the need for thousands of working hands in the midst of a scenario in which available employees are scarce , mainly among trades; in addition, that the construction market is accelerating.
But interest in joining the project is in the air, reaching the ears of workers across the country, says Michael Engbert, an official with the Ohio-based Workers International Union of North America, in a report for the AP.
“We get calls every day from members hundreds or thousands of miles away asking about transfers to Columbus, Ohio ,” the union representative said.
The supply of workers was exceeded
The project for the construction of the new industrial complex of Intel advances in its first stages to prepare the land in which the two manufacturing buildings will rise .
Although Intel assured in a previous statement that one of the reasons for choosing Ohio as the location for its new plant has to do with the availability of labor in this state .
“It will not be without its challenges, but we are confident there is enough demand for these jobs to be filled,” the California-based company said when announcing the project.
However, both union leaders and state government officials have acknowledged that there is not a base of 7,000 workers available today to meet the demand that Intel needs to build its factory.
The shortage of workers is not only because there are not enough hands available, but also because other large projects are already being built in the state that monopolize them , such as an 18-story Hilton hotel in Columbus and the expansion of the State University of Ohio.
In addition to three new data centers from Google and Amazon and several projects for the installation of solar panels, which together require about 6,000 jobs .
According to government data, there are about 45,000 construction workers, both residential and commercial, in central Ohio; data that added only 1,800 new hands between May 2021 and the same month of 2022.