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.
Bill Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.
