Given the $65 billion in grants devoted to broadband deployment coming in the New Year, Congress asked the Government Accountability Office to study whether there’s enough workers to handle the builds. In a new report, the GAO’s analysis found that thousands more skilled workers will be needed to deploy broadband and 5G funded by recent federal programs.
GAO found that the pace at which these programs provide funding will impact the annual number of additional workers needed. For instance, if money is provided over a 10-year span, GAO estimates about 23,000 additional workers could be supported by the peak year of funding in 2023. That would drop to about 9,000 additional workers in 2031, due to the impact of inflation and because funds for some programs must be expended before 2032.
There’s mixed evidence on whether there’s a shortage of these workers, according to the GAO. “Their unemployment rate was low, but [we] didn’t observe wages going up in this area, which would suggest a shortage.”
Industry stakeholders that GAO spoke with expressed concerns regarding the ability of the industry to attract enough workers needed to deploy broadband infrastructure funded by federal programs. Their concerns included uncertainties regarding:
- the number of available workers, particularly in rural areas;
- the extent of competition from other industries for occupations necessary to deploy broadband infrastructure; and
- the adequacy of the general supply of new entrants into broadband deployment-related occupations.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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