New Jersey Data Center Jobs Now Require Prevailing Wage and an OSHA-10 Card

New Jersey now regulates data center construction the way it regulates public work. Under P.L. 2025, c.335, signed January 20, 2026 and effective April 1, every worker on a data center project designed to draw five megawatts or more annually must be paid no less than the prevailing wage rate for that worker's craft or trade. The state's Division of Local Government Services issued guidance to municipalities on August 25 explaining how the standard applies, and a second payroll law reaches maintenance and repair work on October 20.

The statute defines a data center construction project as construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration, custom fabrication, or repair work at a property whose operations consist primarily of computer servers and related equipment for the processing, storage, and distribution of electronic data, designed for annual electrical usage of five megawatts or greater after construction. Rates are set by the Commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development under the 1963 Prevailing Wage Act and published by craft and county. Projects designed for 25 megawatts or greater may also carry a project labor agreement. The act reaches only projects that commence on or after its effective date.

Three credential requirements travel with the wage floor. Every worker on a covered site must complete general construction training meeting or exceeding OSHA-10. At least one supervisor must complete OSHA-30, and for every fifteen workers a contractor employs on the site, one worker must hold OSHA-30 as well. Temporary labor services cannot be used at all unless the workers supplied are verifiably enrolled in an apprenticeship program registered by the federal Office of Apprenticeship. Heavy equipment operators need proof of equipment-specific training.

The October piece is narrower but reaches further into the building's life. P.L. 2025, c.152, signed October 22, 2025, takes effect October 20, 2026. It expands the Labor Commissioner's authority to demand payroll records for construction, alteration, duct cleaning, repair, and maintenance work performed under contracts paid in whole or in part out of public funds, including payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements, tax exemptions, grants, and other financial assistance. Records must be produced within ten days of a request, and a public entity's financial officer may withhold up to 25 percent of project payments, capped at $100,000, until they are.

For commercial electricians, the practical change is documentation. Hours on a covered New Jersey data center job are reported through certified payroll, tied to a named craft classification and a published wage determination rather than to whatever a contractor negotiated. Subcontractors must hold Public Works Contractor Registration before starting work. An electrician without an OSHA-10 card is not eligible for the site, and a temp-agency electrician who is not enrolled in a registered apprenticeship cannot be placed on one. Training records that used to be a contractor's preference are now a condition of entry.

New Jersey is not the largest data center market in the country. It is among the first to put in writing what the work pays and who is permitted to do it.