Marketplace - Breaking Ground: Where are all the jobs?

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

Phoenix is on track to become a national hub for semiconductor production. The city has had lots of help: billions in funding from the Biden administration and buy-in from major chipmakers like TSMC and Intel. One thing they still need, though, is workers — 70,000 nationwide. Training programs are already preparing folks for entry-level chip technician positions. But where are all those promised jobs?

Change is hard, yes, but it can take a long time too. From American public media, this is Marketplace. In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdall. It is Thursday, today the 2nd of May. Good as always to have you along, everybody. In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle Rizdall. It is Thursday, today, the second of May. Good as always to have you along, everybody. Washington Post columnist Heather Long and I have been reporting the past couple of days on what's happening in Phoenix, Arizona, a city on the receiving end of billions of dollars

from the CHIPS Act. It's our series Breaking Ground, how billions of dollars in federal money are changing this economy in complicated and invisible and sometimes contradictory ways. Like a lot of federal investments in this economy, though, things are not going to change overnight. It's all about, and you've heard me say this a lot over the past couple of days, the long game. So far we visited a construction site where TSMC is building three new factories. Looks like an airplane hanger except on, you know, steroids or something. It's enormous.

A company that salvages trees and cacti from construction sites like TSMC's. That tree is called an ironwood tree, and it's about $8,000. And a training center for the local pipe fitters union that is bursting at the seams. Things look better for us now than they have in over 30 years. The scale of this investment in the semiconductor industry is enormous. Tens of billions of dollars in federal grants and loans,

billions more from the companies themselves, and that's just in the past month. The plan is that that money will transform manufacturing in the United States and will change the direction of this economy, which is something only federal dollars can do. Which is something only federal dollars can do. That is government in the economy. But there's also transformation happening at the personal level. And the show today is about that. Here we are at Mesa Community College.

Why are we here? This is one of the biggest programs in the country right now, training entry level jobs, what are called technicians for the semiconductor industry. And they have something called the Quick Start, which is a 10 day course. I guess that's what it takes, 10 days to learn the basics. One imagines the very basics.

The very basics. But a lot of it is just, you have to put on the bunny suit and we don't mean Playboy bunny suit. It's white. You have to learn all the different tools and most importantly just learn I think a lot of people are they comfortable doing things with their hands as silly as it sounds. This is a generation that hasn't grown up in many cases, working with their hands. Intel and TSMC and other chip makers helped develop this program with Maricopa Community Colleges.

And if students pass the final exam, most do, it's free for Arizona residents. It's supposed to help them get a foot in the door of these new factories with their super clean temperature controlled rooms and bunny suits, those head to toe coveralls meant to keep dust and hair and microscopic contaminants off the chips. What are you expecting to see as we go sit in on this class that we're going to go sit in on? Well, we've been told that we're going to see a lot of different ages and coming from all different types of backgrounds. But to me, I'm most interested, did they really want to be here or did they sort of stumble

into it? Yeah. We should say here the need is vast, right? TSMC and Intel are going to hire like 7,500 workers. And this is where they're going to start, right? Is that the plan? Yes, these technician jobs, which do not require a college degree, but do require some training, like what we're about to see. A note of caution here. We were at the TSMC plant for a very brief moment till we got thrown out.

That plant is not going to start actually making chips for, let's be generous, 18 months. So these folks finish this 10-day course, they're not necessarily going to have a job. It's one of the big conundrums right now, right? The hiring needs to happen so, so fast, but we're sort of in a stall period. Everybody knows it's coming, but you're right, it's probably not next week. All right, let's go in and see what they're saying.

This is the first day of the 10-day session at Mesa Community College. Classes run from 4.30 to 8.30 in the evening. Hi, Rizdal, how are you? It's a pleasure to meet you. It's my colleague, Heather. Hi, evening. Hi, Rizdal, how are you? It's a pleasure to meet you. It's my colleague, Heather. Hi, honey. From the Post.

Nice to meet you. Adriana Arroyo is in charge of education, career, and financial management at Fresh Start Women's Foundation. That's a nonprofit here in town that helps women build independence through job training and other services. And this class is filled entirely with students from Fresh Start. We've just welcomed our sixth cohort of semiconductor women. Who are these women?

These women are absolutely incredible. They are women who are single moms, women that may have experienced domestic abuse. They are women that are our moms, our sisters, our aunts, our cousins that really realize there's an opportunity in front of them. And are many of them getting jobs right now? We hear hiring is a little slow. So it is, you know, it's one of those that we are always managing expectations. I was just doing the welcome for our students and I said, I was like, look, we're here for the entire journey, whether you get the job right after you finish during our interview day or it takes you a little while.

39% of our women have been placed and they're working at places like Intel, PacSci, TSMC. And how did this program come about? How did it get started? You know, Fresh Start has had a very long mission of empowering women. We started off with haircuts and just realized that we needed to evolve. And so now we offer family law support, social work support where they can do success coaching. So when it came to Semiconductor,

we were just like, it's growing. There's tons of construction around. TSMC's still working on their building, Intel's here. And we want to be able for our women to get a piece of the pie. Have you tried on the bunny suit? I have not. And I have been waiting.

I have red lipstick and all. Maybe today's the day. Let's go. Come on. Let's do it. Let's go get some B-roll. Let's go. Where are we going? You're in charge. Adriana walked us into a classroom with whiteboards on the walls and a dozen or so women sitting at desks with computers. Does anybody have a pen, desk, and bar note?

Brad Ehlers at the teacher's lectern. He worked at Intel for 23 years and has had a part-time gig teaching this course for about two. Oh no, wait. We're going to do some introductions, right? years and has had a part-time gig teaching this course for about two. The women in this class are looking for better jobs, yes, but more too. I've just kind of been scraping by finding contract jobs here and there. This would be a second career for me. I have an 18-year-old son on the oxygen spectrum. And so now I'm here trying to make a career out of it and better my life and me and my daughter.

A couple hours into class when Brad called for a break, we chatted with a few of them outside. Hi Gabrielle, how are you? Hello, I'm doing good. I'm Kai, nice to see you. How are you? Good to see you. I guess we're trying to get the sun out of our eyes, right? Well, get the sun out of your eyes anyway doing good. I'm Kai, nice to see you. How are you? Good to see you. I guess we're trying to get the sun out of our eyes, right? Well, good sun out of your eyes anyway. He's got sunglasses on.

Oh, lucky you. Tell me a little bit about yourself. Why are you here? I'm here because I recently just left my husband in February and I have a 10 month old, so I just needed some income and I have some friends that work at Intel as a semiconductor. They just actually took this course right before spring break. They told me about the opportunity,

said, hey, you know, Intel's hiring, you should jump on the semiconductor course and now I'm here. And you're hoping to get a job at Intel? Absolutely. Do you have a technical background at all? Actually, I don't. I guess I did pharmacy tech,

but that's as techie as it gets, really. They say that anyone can do it. So I mean, if you put your mind to anything, you really can't. It's true. And what about, do you think this will really lead to a better life for you and your child, a better paying job?

Both actually. So I was actually a stay at home mom for five years. I did raise two of my stepkids. So yeah, this is just a whole new way of life for me and my 10 month old. and just like you said, building a better life for us. Gabriella, thanks a bunch. Thank you, thank you.

Your turn, tell me who you are. My name's Danelle, and I came to Fresh Start. So I've been in an abusive relationship for 24 years, all physical, mentally, emotionally. I'm in the middle of a divorce right now. So I came to Fresh Start for really a new start, but to be able to be independent for myself. I have a 15-year-old son,

and I wanna be just not to be dependent on any man anymore, to be able to just make it for myself and to help him through college. What kind of job do you hope to get out of this? You know, just I honestly I was looking into like Intel or TSMC and you know, for years I ran a residential general contracting company building new homes and remodeling them. So maybe eventually way down the road, getting into like a management position. Have you seen the factories?

Have you driven by TSMC and Intel? I have actually. So I have a friend who is a foreman electrician and he was the first foreman for his company up at TSMC. So I've driven by both of them. So they're amazing. I am. I'm so excited. I think we have to let you get back to class. I don't want to make it late. Brad will yell at me. Okay. Thank you. Thank you guys. Take it easy.

We heard that a lot. I'm so excited. Remember though, these would be entry-level jobs, helping more skilled workers with chip production and maintaining equipment but they pay more than $20 an hour plus benefits with opportunities to grow into even better jobs. That's the hope that brought these women here it's their long game. Coming up what happened after that two-week course. This is Marketplace. I'm Kyle Rizdahl. That class we visited with a dozen women trying to get a foot in the door of the semiconductor industry wrapped up 10 days after Washington.

Boast columnist Heather Long and I left. Hi Gabrielle, it's Kyle Rizdahl. How are you? Hi. And Heather Long here too. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, no problem. Hi, Gabriella, it's Kyle Rizdal. How are you? Hi. And Heather Long here too. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, no problem. So a couple of weeks later, with Heather in a studio in Washington, DC and me in a studio in LA, we called Gabriella while she was picking her aunt up from the airport.

So much has happened all at once and I ended up being the driver and I didn't even know I was going to be driving around today. Well, we're here. Yeah. So look, so just tell us about the course. What'd you learn, how to go after day one? What was it like? Yeah, the course was pretty easy. It was just a lot of basically familiarizing yourself with the different types of tools, such as like wrenches, the sockets, basic material. I was able to pass the course, a lot of people did. I think everyone passed. What was it like putting on that bunny suit?

Can you visualize yourself doing this? Yeah, the bunny suit was actually kind of comfortable. We went ahead and played like a mock type of deal of how we would put it on in the actual setting. But yeah, it was pretty cool. It was a neat and new experience. How's the job hunt going? Honestly, not too well. That was kind of disappointing. Everyone, like our instructor was from Intel.

I know people from Fresh Start were really pushing Intel and TSMC. But I feel like after our class, we almost didn't have anyone come to our career fair, I guess afterwards, because there isn't really much hiring as of right now. With that chipsack that Biden had, I really thought that that would kick into gear. Rumor has it that hopefully in the summer, so hopefully they'll be hiring for that when the money starts kicking in and they kind of know what to do with it. Even my friends who did work at Intel, they're trying to hold on to their job,

but it's kind of disappointing. How long are you gonna stick it out before you decide to try to find another field? Oh, goodness. Honestly, I've been just trying to apply with recruiters. Like I said, I'm not getting anything back for the semiconductor. I'll be honest, I'm actually looking for other positions. I'm looking for remote home jobs. I'm looking, I just had an interview with Toyota yesterday. I got two more

interviews tomorrow with AT&T and another work from home company. And so, I mean, if semiconductor comes back and the pay is better than what I'm making, then I'll jump ship. But as of right now, not too well. How are you making ends meet right now? Door dash, honestly, that's my saving grace. So I'm just door dashing away. And again, like I said, just really applying to other jobs

and interviewing as much as I can. I'm really just throwing myself out there to any job that will possibly hire me. You're driving for work, you're driving for family, man. That's a drag. Yeah, there's just a lot going on in my little world, but it is what it is. You just take it one day at a time.

There you go. Thanks for spending part of this with us today. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. Take care. Me too. Bye bye. So that's one of the women in that course.

Here is another. So we met you on the first day of that course out of Mesa. How was the rest of it? How was the following couple of weeks? Oh, it was amazing. Our instructor, was great at really just making sure we understood everything. It took a lot of hard work on my part though too. That's Danelle. We caught her at home. You can hear the dogs in the background. What was the hardest part?

I think the time. You know, putting in the time, I know that it was only a two week course, so I did prepare myself for that and just being able to navigate my daily life. Do I have it right that you drove an hour plus each way to get to this class? I sure did. It was a long drive, but so worth it. What's the most important thing you learned? You know, one thing I liked the best was reading schematics. Those were hard, but I really enjoyed it and I picked it up pretty easy.

If I look outside of like just the education part, the most important thing I learned was that I can succeed. I can do this if I put my mind to it. How goes the hunt for a job? So I went to a career fair through Fresh Start, and I got some leads. They just called me back. I've been working with one of the companies there and they have a few positions available immediately, but they're 80% travel. So I'm not really open to 80% travel with my son. So they are keeping me updated

and I know they're gonna have a few more openings come June and July. So how are you getting by right now, Danielle? Right now, you know, I've been lucky enough that with like this whole divorce process, I've been out of a job. I haven't been paid since September. And I am lucky enough that I have a really close friend of mine who is putting my rent

on hold for me till I get a job so I can pay everything back. So without that, I wouldn't have a roof over my head right now. So I'm very thankful for that. And are you pretty confident you can get a job in the semiconductor industry? I really am. Going into this field, I didn't really know too much about it,

but if someone will give me a chance, I am a really hard worker. I don't wanna make too much of this, but this could change your life, right? This really could. This is a whole new career opportunity for me. It will make it so that I'm able to support myself and not, I don't mean to sound mean when I say this, but never have to rely on a man to support me again.

But it's really life changing for me. I look at it as I know I need to enter into this career field at the bottom. And I'm okay with that, but I just have to work my way up. How much do you think president Biden deserves some credit for what's going on in Phoenix with the semiconductor space? So, you know, I don't follow a lot of politics, but I have heard that it went through that he is going to be giving TSMC. I can't quote the number, but some billion dollars,

something to start another phase. So it'll help myself. There'll be more job openings. So... Heather, you good? Yes, thank you. Great. Danelle, thank you so much for your time. It's really great to hear that it went so well with you and good luck with the job hunt. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I know that the right job will come along. That's the complicated part of this. Billions of federal dollars are being spent to build semiconductor factories around the country. Just in the past month, Intel has been awarded $8.5 billion, TSMC $6.6 billion, and Samsung $6.4 billion. It takes a while for that money to get where it needs to be.

Yes, and more is coming, but there aren't a lot of actual jobs yet for people like Gabriella and Danelle. Here's the thing that struck me. And it's, well, we talked about this while we were on the ground, right? Everybody here is playing the long game, right about this while we were on the ground, right? Everybody here is playing the long game, right?

The people who are taking the classes, the companies who are doing the work, the pipe fitters unions, the construction companies, and the Biden administration. They're all playing, you know, with various degrees of time, the long game, right? This is going to take a while. Well, I know we talked about this being the ground zero for the new economy, but we're still in early stages. There's a reason it's ground zero. It feels like in five, 10 years, this industry will be huge for the US and certainly for

the Phoenix area. But you could hear the frustration in these workers' voices that they went to career fairs and almost no companies are there. It just feels like everything's in a holding pattern. What's purgatory in the economy? I don't know. I want you to talk for a second about why the Biden administration believes these investments are important. The phrase I'm thinking of here is industrial base, right? That's what the president's banking on. Definitely. Obviously, President Biden always talking about the jobs, jobs, jobs, and not just jobs,

but good jobs and good careers, even as these workers were telling us that, okay, maybe it starts at a 20 or $25 an hour. They see room to grow quickly to a 30 to $35 an hour plus benefit job. For the country though, Biden doesn't talk about this as often, but I think what I've learned from our trip to Phoenix and talking to people, this is more than about trying to produce the lowest cost semiconductors in the world or just trying to produce a physical item. There's also national security concerns and having this industry back in the world are just trying to produce a physical item. There's also national security concerns

and having this industry back in the United States is about more than just dollars and cents and jobs. It's also about protecting the future of our economy. There will be people who will hear this story and say, wait a second, wait a second. TSMC is a multi-billion dollar company. It's spending something like 50 or 60 billion dollars worth of its own money. Why does it need money from American taxpayers to be convinced that this is a good idea?

It's so true, Kai, and obviously TSMC is a good example because they announced their first plant there in Phoenix in, I believe it was May 2020, so before any of this money was passed and on the table. So you do sort of scratch your head. But the counter to that is they are now and you and I saw it on the ground, they are now building two more factories than what they had initially planned to do. And I have to give some credit to the Biden administration in the sense that they argued that if the United States government put a little bit of money in, that companies would then put even more in. And that so far is what we've seen.

And I do think there's been enough invested and enough built already that these companies aren't just going to turn around and walk away, even if things really change in the world or in the economy in the next couple of years. Yeah, it's worth pointing out, there are already shovels in the ground, and as we saw out at that TSMC plan, they're well on their way to actually building those fabs. I think it's interesting, though, that the CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger, said not too long ago,

this was actually why we were there, I saw this, we're going to need a CHIPS Act II, right? CH to right chips to more money. Yeah, they already want the sequel. That's for sure More more money more potential. But what about you? Kai? What stood out to you? There too. The thing that hit me about it was this scale. First of all, literally the sheer size of that TSMC plant I mean, you know, again, we were only in the parking lot, so we could only see one facet of it, but it went far beyond that thing we could see, and it was ginormous. The other thing, though, on scale is the time we spent with the pipe fitters union and how they talked about how

they are literally pulling people in from other states. They have more work than they know what to do with. Their enrollment is way, way up in these jobs that as, I can't remember his name, but the guy who used to be the teacher and left teaching and now he's making three or four times what he did in the classroom working a union job in Phoenix. It was super interesting to me that that is the scale of this kind of work, you know? And the life transforming nature of it. Oh yeah, totally. to work, you know? And the life-transforming nature of it. Totally. A life-transforming job. That's what Gabriella and Dan-El want,

to change their place in this economy. Transformation is what the federal government is looking for, too. That's why it's investing in semiconductor companies in Phoenix to change the shape of manufacturing in the United States. But it is going to take decades to know whether those bets are going to pay off. Coming up next time on our series Breaking Ground.

We have 4,000 homes right now within one mile radius of this site. Ten years ago we had 400. I was just going to say. One neighborhood going through a transformation of its own. This final note on the way out today just to close the loop. As of this week, only one of the 12 students in that class that Heather and I went to had gotten a job with TSMC. Den-El is still working her way through the interview process for another semiconductor company.

It is, as we said, the long game. John Buckley, John Gordon, Noir Carr, Diantha Parker, Amir Bibawe and Stephanie Sieck are the marketplace editing staff. Amir Bibawe is the managing editor. I'm Kai Rizdal. We will see you tomorrow everybody. This is 8PM. All over the country, schools are changing the way they teach reading.

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