UK Data-Centre Boom Could Deliver Just a Quarter of Techuk's 40,000-Job Forecast

Britain's datacentre boom is estimated to directly create just 10,400 jobs, around a quarter of the 40,000 additional jobs forecast by the tech industry, according to new analysis by environmental thinktank Verdant. The findings come as ministers face mounting pressure over the sector's water and energy demands.

The government designated UK datacentres as critical national infrastructure in 2024, a move intended to strengthen the sector's resilience and allow government support during critical incidents.

Separately, ministers have introduced faster planning procedures for some major infrastructure projects that meet specific criteria, rather than automatically fast-tracking every datacentre. Jobs figures published by industry lobby group TechUK, and cited by the government, have been central to the case for expanding the sector.

Why the Jobs Gap Keeps Growing

Verdant examined 20 projects with publicly available staffing data, drawn from planning applications, company accounts and press releases. It found datacentres already built have directly created fewer than 4,400 jobs, equivalent to about 8.6 roles for every megawatt of power capacity, according to its analysis.

The findings concern permanent operational jobs and exclude temporary construction roles. That compares with TechUK's projection of 43.7 jobs per megawatt.

TechUK's 2024 analysis said the sector currently supports 43,500 jobs and could add 40,200 directly employed operational jobs between 2025 and 2035, alongside 18,200 additional construction roles.

TechUK's economic analysis, however, is contested by Verdant, which also warned the gap could widen further, since newer projects tend to be far larger in scale and correspondingly less labour-intensive, potentially creating as few as 1.6 permanent posts per megawatt.

To illustrate the disparity, the Guardian reported that Verdant compared datacentre job numbers with those of an average car plant, which creates around 400 positions per megawatt, and a hospital or health facility, which creates more than 3,600 jobs per megawatt.

Government and Industry Reject the Comparison

A government spokesperson disputed the findings, calling Verdant's approach 'a deeply misleading jobs-per-megawatt metric' that 'makes false comparisons with hospitals and schools' and 'appears to confuse electricity capacity with actual consumption'.

The spokesperson added that the report 'discounts the wider economic value of compute and the national security and sovereignty case for building critical digital infrastructure in Britain'.

TechUK also defended its projections. A spokesperson said its estimates 'are built on a published methodology using industry data and standard economic impact assessment techniques', adding the group remains 'confident they remain a reasonable estimate of the sector's employment contribution'.

Verdant co-director James Meadway pushed back on that defence. He said Britain is 'being rushed into supporting a frantic pace of datacentre buildout on very flimsy economic grounds'.

Political Backlash Grows Over Water and Jobs

The findings have sharpened calls from the Green Party for new datacentre approvals to be paused. Leader Zack Polanski said the government 'is planning to steamroller local opposition so private companies can build datacentres, but it can't explain what the benefits are'.

Polanski also pointed to the sector's water use.

He said 'England and Wales are still facing drought after our hottest summer ever, but these datacentres are set to get priority access to water', adding that Verdant's research suggests they will create fewer jobs than the government claims.

Polanski has separately urged the prime minister to 'slam the brakes' on new construction, saying Labour was prioritising 'AI tech billionaires' over water-stressed communities. There have also been protests in Scotland over concerns that large projects are being rushed through.

The dispute cuts to the heart of how the government justifies accelerating Britain's AI infrastructure. If the jobs case is significantly weaker than presented, campaigners argue the government has less justification for supporting faster planning processes for major projects.