Google and Siemens Invest in Electrical Training to Support Future Infrastructure Needs

Signs that industry is growing more motivated to directly address a looming shortage of electrical workers are starting to appear.

At least two companies, Google and Siemens Corp., have announced plans this year to fund electrical training in hopes of putting more workers into a specialized labor pipeline they and others in their industries will need to tap in coming years.

In April, Google unveiled a multi-pronged plan to help the electrical training ALLIANCE (etA) boost the number of candidates it puts through its programs. The aim: training an additional 100,000 electrical workers and 30,000 apprentices, a 70% increase over the next few years.

Siemens, an industrial technologies firm, announced December 2 that it would be expanding its workforce development partnership programs in a bid to bring 200,000 more electricians and similarly trained manufacturing experts into the capable workforce its industry needs by 2030.

The Google initiative, spearheaded by the company’s Google.org philanthropic arm, entails $15 million in funding, says etA managing director, Greg Greiner. Half the money will go to Joint Apprenticeship and Training Centers (JATC) prioritized by Google based on their presence in areas where future electrical worker supply and demand dynamics are worrisome. The other half will be used by etA across all of its training centers to better leverage artificial intelligence and other emerging technology tools like virtual reality to modernize, improve and expand its training, recruitment, forecasting and leadership efforts.

“This is a first-of-its-kind development where industry has come to our National Electrical Contractors Association/International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers/JATC alliance in support of expanding and supporting our electrical apprenticeship training effort,” Greiner says. “We apply for a lot of Department of Labor and state grants to aid our programs but to have an actual industry see a problem and reach out and want to work with you on it is significant.”

Google is linking its funding commitment to broader advocacy for improvements to the nation’s power infrastructure. That will be needed, it says, to support the build-out of AI, which it champions, and other power-hungry elements of the economy. But it can’t be done without the manpower capable of building and maintaining it, specifically those trained in the electrical field.

In a press release announcing the program, Google said the effort to build a more robust electrical grid demands “constructive public and private collaboration to advance.” Just as it has supported workforce AI training through its AI Opportunity Fund, it will support electrical worker training that leverages AI through its AI Essentials course to address “a shortage of electrical workers (that) may constrain America’s ability to build the infrastructure needed to support AI, advanced manufacturing, and a shift to clean energy.”

Google’s formal announcements of funding for etA training programs it is prioritizing have been picking up pace. Typically accompanying news of data centers or other Google infrastructure build-out, they emphasize the importance of simultaneously building the electrical workforce. At the most recent one, in Midlothian, Texas in November, Google unveiled plans to spend up to $40 billion in the state on data centers and cloud/AI infrastructure. An etA investment there to bring 1,700 more electrical apprentices to the state by 203 — a doubling of the projected pipeline — will help ensure the infrastructure can be built, it says.

The Siemens initiative has a similar timeline for building the electrical workforce. An effort to close “two critical talent gaps” in electrical and advanced manufacturing, according to spokesperson Christiana Meyers, the company’s plan is to increase and expand support for training partners through existing programs. 

Through its Siemens Educates America program, which has 74 partners including etA and Independent Electrical Contractors Association, the company will “deliver curriculum, donate training labs, and provide access to advanced digital tools,” Meyers says. Via the Siemens Foundation, she says, “we’re investing in electrification training pathways and supporting community colleges and workforce organizations.”

As with the Google initiative, the Siemens plan has AI playing a major role. The company integrates AI into its training programs to enhance personalized learning and worker development, Meyers says, and will be valuable in “supporting upskilling in high-demand areas like electrification, automation, and digitalization.”

In a press release, Siemens USA’s interim president and CEO said, “As the effort to reindustrialize our economy accelerates, and a new industrial tech sector emerges, now is the time to build workforce development ecosystems with the scale and impact needed to prepare a new generation of AI-ready leaders in the skilled trades.”