Where's the broadband workforce? Waiting for the money

State officials have been working hard to suss out what kinds of skills ISPs need and how best to attract and train up new workers, said Edyn Rolls, Chief Strategic Officer for the Oklahoma Broadband Office. For instance, Oklahoma State University conducted a nationwide study to identify what areas of the broadband workforce need the biggest boost, she said. GIS mapping and engineering skills would be most in demand, the study found. But state officials have five years to finish their BEAD projects and an engineering degree takes four years to obtain — meaning it'll take almost as long to finish training the workforce as they have to finish the work according to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program timeline. So, figuring out how to align the need with the training required has been a challenge. A total of 174,800 construction workers and 186,900 technicians will be needed to execute BEAD builds, according to a recent study commissioned by the Workforce Development for the Fiber Broadband Association, noted director Todd Jackson. However, there’s expected to be a shortage of 28,000 workers on the construction side and 30,000 on the technician side between 2025 and 2030.