As Mississippi basks in its AI data-center boom, all is not copasetic in the AI economy.
“Tens of Thousands of White-Collar Jobs Are Disappearing as AI Starts to Bite,” read a recent headline in the Wall Street Journal, citing Amazon laying off 14,000 corporate jobs, UPS reducing its management workforce by another 14,000 positions, Target cutting 1,800 corporate jobs, and pending cuts from Rivian Automotive, Molson Coors, Booz Allen Hamilton, and General Motors. “Behind the wave of white-collar layoffs, in part, is the embrace by companies of artificial intelligence, which executives hope can handle more of the work that well-compensated white-collar workers have been doing.” AI is also impacting manufacturing. President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda and tax benefits in his One Big Beautiful Bill intended to cause significant reshoring of manufacturing jobs from foreign countries. So far, however, uncertainties tied to tariffs have held that up. The National Association of Manufacturers, a big supporter of the pro-business provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill, cited tariffs as a major concern and predicted that capital expenditures would rise only 1% in the coming year. Meanwhile, the boom in AI data-centers is “crowding out” resources for traditional manufacturing from capital to land to construction crews to electrical capacity. “The stampede of capital into AI-related projects risks starving other industries of investment dollars,” Morten Wierod, CEO of ABB Ltd., a Swiss manufacturer of factory automation systems and electrical equipment for data-centers, told Bloomberg News. Will these national trends impact Mississippi?
While the white collar layoff trend could impact some corporate and administrative roles, it does not appear to be having current impact in Mississippi. State economist Corey Miller noted, “We aren't seeing as many jobs added, but we're also not seeing people being laid off.”
The manufacturing impact could be more significant. An analysis suggests potential risks in three areas: 1) competition for construction capacity and skilled labor since hyperscale data-centers require massive, specialized construction and electrical work – national reporting indicates contractors are shifting toward data-center work because margins and immediate demand are high; 2) electricity and water supply since data-centers are energy and water intensive; and 3) fiscal and land-use opportunity costs since tax breaks, infrastructure spending, and industrial land used for data-centers absorb state and local resources that could be used for manufacturing projects.
If the focus on data-centers does slow investment in manufacturing, the impact would be problematic for Mississippi job growth. Unlike manufacturing, data-centers don’t require that many jobs to operate. In Mississippi, manufacturing accounts for approximately 16% of total jobs, one of the highest ratios in the nation.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick” – Proverbs 13:12.
Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from Jackson.
15 comments:
This is a really stupid take. Plus President Trump’s Dept. of Energy is fast tracking new nuclear power generation licenses specifically for small modular reactors. Yet another reminder that history will prove that he is the greatest president in modern history.
I'm concerned that we ordinary citizens will be paying higher electricity bills to subsidize AI's consumption needs. To me, that's socialism. The AI companies are pouring billions of dollars into building and running these facilities to pad their already fat wallets. And it all seems destined to be the next dot.com busted bubble.
8:05 am You are ignoring the job loss figures. By the end of the year , it will be the worse year since 2020 when Trump's last term ended. It's especially high in tech, pharmaceutical and financial sectors. Bankruptcies increases significantly. I wonder if his MBA is that 6 week program given to executives instead of the 2 years programs common in his age group. I did my 2 years, did you?
@8:28 the dot com bubble was because too many worthless companies were treated as valuable as the Googles, Pricelines, eBay’s, and Amazons, that still exist today and generate billions in revenue. The market hasn’t yet determined which LLM’s will dominate the market and which will go the way of AOL and MySpace.
Old Billy RINO Crawford just can’t help taking a shot at Trump. He could write an article on deep space pulsars and he’d find a way to criticize Trump. Unbelievable. Dude you have the worst case of TDS I have ever seen, you really need to get that looked at.
So is Trump also responsible for the economic woes of the rest of the planet? You TDS sufferers seem to think that the USA is the only nation suffering from the Covid Scamdemic Helicopter Money Hangover. Those of us who travel and have friends and family abroad know that everywhere from the EU to AU and Japan/Korea/China and SEA are all suffering the same economic issues as North America. Governments can’t simply mandate massive restrictions while printing massive amounts of fiat to prop everything up and then expect it to be a sustainable economically. We are now experiencing the hangover. But thankfully, thanks to President Trump, we are still leading the world in GDP and growth
Breaking news: Trump had four scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and OJ for breakfast while families on SNAP starve.
copacetic?
"AI" is THE Trojan Horse that will usher in the Surveillance state of the future. It's meant to get everyone comfortable with the concept of machine thinking instead of thinking for themselves. It will log every keystroke, swipe, download, post, home camera videos (inside and out). They will make you participate in the "program" for "your own safety" and deny you services and access to everything if you decline. It's being done under the auspices of "gradualism". Believe it. Europe has already fallen....people are in prison for meme posts, and white Christians are being denied housing, essential services, and justice in the courts based on their beliefs.
"AI" will track it all for the courts to see, and then you become radioactive to your friends, family, and colleagues because you dared to critically think for yourself. That is all.
Laughing my @$$ off at how the effin environmental nazis have been completely sidelined and rendered nutless. Long live fossil fuels.
Factories are going to china and Mexico not Mississippi
I have a ingrown toe nail and it’s Trumps fault
@1:48
Bruh.. Take your meds.. “the program” is what normal people call living in a civil society… you have nothing to fear as long you aren’t some Nazi incel pedophile
Take your meds? 3:02, you are not even in the ballpark. Quite a leap of logic to express an opinion about the AI surveillance state future to automatically being non-conformist. Must have struck a nerve.
Continue to be a good little soldier. Remember, critical thinking....hard!!!
Naw. All you gotta do is clip that fiber cable.
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