Australia is falling worryingly short of the workers required to power the nation's AI boom.The warning comes from a government-backed industry body, which is calling for urgent action to add tens of thousands of skilled tradespeople to the workforce.But as demand for data centres intensifies a national skills crunch, employers say they're struggling to find and retain these key workers.More InformationFeatured:Dean Spicer, RECIPS ElectricalAnthea Middleton, Powering Skills Organisation CEO Stewart Joyce, National Electrical and Communications AssociationCreditsMatt Bamford, ReporterEwa Staszewska, ReporterImage DetailsThe construction of data centres could have an impact on apprenticeships.(ABC News: Marcus Stimson)Program:More from AMTranscriptRachel Mealey: Australia is falling worryingly short when it comes to the workers required to power the nation's AI boom. The warning comes from a government-backed industry body which is calling for urgent action to add tens of thousands of skilled tradespeople to the workforce. But as demand for data centres intensifies a national skills crunch, employers say they're struggling to find and retain these key workers. Matt Bamford reports.Matt Bamford: Plenty of work, but not enough people to do it. That's the frustrating dilemma facing business owner Dean Spicer.Dean Spicer: It's devastating because you've got a real opportunity to grow your business, but in the sector that we're working, often fixed price, you're unable to compete with the rates and conditions that are being offered in that space.Matt Bamford: His Melbourne-based business builds electrical cables used in data centres. The energy intensive factories powering AI.Dean Spicer: The draw on the labour pool is extraordinary. We've recently lost one of our team who'd been with us 12 years. Some of the things they're doing to attract staff are just mind boggling.Matt Bamford: Data centre construction is a booming sector, expected to be worth about $150 billion by the end of the decade, according to the latest Treasury advice. As of March, there were 160 centres operating across the country, with proposals for a further 130.Anthea Middleton: Australia has entered an energy workforce super cycle.Matt Bamford: Anthea Middleton is CEO of the Powering Skills Organisation, a group set up by the Federal Government to address skills shortages in the energy sector. In a report out today, she argues Australia will need an additional 72,000 electricians, technicians and related tradespeople over the next four years to meet demand.Anthea Middleton: We have multiple national priorities that are simultaneously competing with the same electricians, technicians and skilled trades workers. And we really can see that this pressure is expected to persist over many years, rather than follow a normal economic cycle.Matt Bamford: As well as AI, these workers and their skills are also needed to meet demands for other long existing challenges, like the housing shortage and a shift to renewable energy. Stewart Joyce is CEO of the National Electrical Communications Association.Stewart Joyce: It's very difficult to try and think that the amount of electricians we've got at the moment are going to cover all of those projects, all happening at the same time. So I think the answer is somehow everybody needs to be able to talk and plan these projects so that we try to utilise the labour as best as possible, because there's only a finite amount.Matt Bamford: Anthea Middleton wants to see more quotas for apprentices on major projects and the creation of a dedicated apprenticeship program for data centre builds.Anthea Middleton: I think we have an opportunity to go beyond not just that they create their own renewable power sources to be able to power the very big data hungry and power hungry data centres, but I think we have an opportunity to leverage that investment to make sure that they are also investing in the Australian skills and employment outcomes for Australian workers.Matt Bamford: For business operators like Dean Spicer, he thinks consumers will also start to feel more of a squeeze if the skills shortages persist.Dean Spicer: There's a lot at stake for just mums and dads who want to get an electrician in to do their work and I think people's understanding of or the expectation of what they're going to pay for an electrician is going to have to shift dramatically because there's this massive competition to be able to retain staff and unfortunately or fortunately, depending on which side you sit, people are going to compete on hourly rates of what they pay their staff or can or cannot pay their staff and ultimately that goes to the end user.Matt Bamford: In March, the Federal Government outlined national expectations for data centre and AI infrastructure developers, saying they should invest in developing a skilled local workforce through apprenticeships and other pathways and work collaboratively to address skills gaps.Rachel Mealey: Matt Bamford reporting. 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