The U.S. needs 58k more workers to deploy broadband

The broadband industry needs more workers. Specifically, it needs tens of thousands more construction workers and broadband technicians to complete a coming wave of government-funded deployment projects or else critical broadband expansions could be delayed. Some original research conducted by Continuum Capital found that the U.S. is short by about 58,000 tradespeople to build about $80 billion in government-funded fiber projects over the next five to seven years. Researchers interviewed 350 people across all 50 states who were selected for their knowledge and experience in the broadband market. According to the research, upcoming broadband expansion projects will require about 186,900 workers. But in order to meet that total workforce demand, the U.S. will need 28,000 additional construction tradespeople, and it will also need about 30,000 additional skilled broadband technicians.