Title: Workforce Gaps May Slow Broadband and 5G Expansion

Description: Broadband and 5G technology are important technologies used
in daily activities across the U.S. Yet, millions of Americans lack
access to them. Congress recently approved over $42 billion to
accelerate efforts to expand access. But do we have the workforce needed
to make this expansion? We find out from GAO's Andrew Von Ah.

Related GAO Work: GAO-23-105626, Telecommunications Workforce:
Additional Workers Will Be Needed to Deploy Broadband, but Concerns
Exist About Availability

Released: December 2022

[Andrew Von Ah:] The industry and its stakeholders ought to be planning
ahead to ensure that there is sufficient labor to staff the projects
that Congress has recently funded.

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report. Your source for
news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm
your host, Holly Hobbs. Broadband, is one of the most commonly used
forms of internet access in the United States and has become critical to
everyday activities like work, school, and health care. Similarly, 5G
technology is helping us connect more quickly with fewer dropped calls.
Yet, despite the importance of these technologies, millions of Americans
lack access to them. Congress recently approved over $42 billion to
accelerate efforts to expand access. But do we have the workforce needed
to make this expansion? We'll find out from GAO's Andrew Von Ah, an
expert on communications technologies. Thanks for joining us.

[Andrew Von Ah:] Thanks for having me.

[Holly Hobbs:] So, Andrew, do we have the workforce we need? 

[Andrew Von Ah:] Well, with the largest increase in the amount of
funding available, we tried to make an estimation of the workforce that
would be needed in the coming years to be able to use that money
effectively to build out broadband. So if you assume the money will be
spent over 10 years, we estimate that, in the peak years of
funding,--somewhere around 2023 to 2026--you need about 20,000
additional
workers. But if you condense the time frame to five years, then that
number is going to jump to about 30,000 extra workers per year. So it is
a challenge. The industry representatives that we spoke to were really
already talking about feeling a crunch of not being able to find workers
to build out infrastructure under the sort of current funding that we
have available. And this is really due to an aging workforce, some of
the working conditions, wages--a number of different factors go into
that
question. 

[Holly Hobbs:] And this workforce isn't just needed to build broadband
infrastructure. It's also needed to maintain it long term, right? What
kinds of work with these folks be doing, and what kind of skills do they
need?

[Andrew Von Ah:] Yeah, and there's a wide range of workers and skillsets
needed for broadband and 5G deployment. To build it out, of course, you
need construction equipment laborers such as those operating digging
equipment; you need line technicians for aerial and ground installation;
network engineers and architects. Ultimately, many of these same kinds
of workers are needed to maintain the network. Of course, a lot of
stakeholders we talked to said that estimating the range of workers
necessary to maintain this infrastructure is really too difficult to
confidently give a number around. Those stakeholders agreed that the
total number of workers necessary to maintain the network will be far
less of the number needed to initially deploy it.

[Holly Hobbs:] We've done a lot of work on 5G and broadband access. And
we found that rural America and those living in low income communities
tend to be disproportionately affected by lack of access. Does the
remoteness or these communities, their locations, also make it harder to
attract workers?

[Andrew Von Ah:] It does. We heard that generally workers don't really
want to travel more than a few hundred miles from their residents. And
so, the remoteness or rurality of some areas as well will certainly play
a role in the ability of companies to find workers to deploy broadband
to those areas. Rural areas, of course, also tend to have smaller and
less dense populations. So finding workers in these areas to begin with
is also a challenge. There's also additional concerns about being able
to recruit sufficient staff. Some stakeholders highlighted concerns that
the same labor pool that we're talking about here to build out
infrastructure in the telecommunications industry is also going to be
recruited for other industries. For example, road construction is going
to be competing for the same kind of construction personnel.

{MUSIC}

[Holly Hobbs:] So Andrew just told us that at the high-end, as many as
30,000 additional workers will be needed each year to help accelerate
the expansion of broadband and 5G. But that there are a number of
challenges in finding these workers, which could slow expansion efforts.
So Andrew, this is a topic we've done a lot of work on. What future work
do we have planned?

[Andrew Von Ah:] Yeah, we've done a lot of work looking at efforts to
bridge the digital divide. And we'll continue to conduct work, looking
at the effectiveness of various broadband deployment programs. For
example, we recently released a report on the Reconnect Program, which
is within the Department of Agriculture. And we're also looking at
issues around federal permitting related to broadband deployment, as
well as the affordability of broadband programs.

[Holly Hobbs:] And last question, what's the bottom line of this report?

[Andrew Von Ah:] Really, the bottom line is that based on our lowest
estimates, something around 20,000 to 25,000 more workers will be needed
to deploy the broadband infrastructure, funded by recent legislation.
And yet the industry may already be facing a limited supply of labor. So
this really just suggests that the industry and its stakeholders ought
to be planning ahead to ensure that there is sufficient labor to staff
the projects. Without those workers, broadband deployment projects may
be delayed or take longer to complete than expected.

[Holly Hobbs:] That was GAO's Andrew Von Ah talking about a new report
reviewing broadband and 5G workforce issues. Thanks for your time,
Andrew.

[Andrew Von Ah:] Thank you very much, Holly.

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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