Data Center Construction Helps Drive Wisconsin Job Growth
Data center construction is contributing to Wisconsin's strong construction job growth, although state officials cannot quantify exactly how many jobs are tied to those projects. Microsoft’s campus in Mount Pleasant and projects in Port Washington and Beaver Dam are supporting sustained union construction employment, according to business and labor leaders.
Wisconsin added 10,500 construction jobs between August 2025 and August 2026, accounting for more than half of the state’s total nonfarm job growth. The state Department of Workforce Development said it does not have enough detailed data to determine how many of those jobs are directly connected to data center construction.
Microsoft completed the first phase of its data center campus in Mount Pleasant, while construction continued at campuses in Port Washington and Beaver Dam, including Meta’s Beaver Dam facility. Business and labor representatives in southeast Wisconsin said the projects are driving construction and manufacturing activity, with Building Advantage Executive Director Chris Mambu Rasch describing the union work as nearly entirely unionized and predicting a decade of employment growth tied to data centers.