Desk: BizTech Status: READY — Copy Desk edit complete; awaiting N3 → Noah Slug: 20260904-aws-jobs-pipeline Date line: Sept. 4, 2026 Brand: Region N3 / National News Network Word count: ~870
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NEW CARLISLE, Ind. — Amazon Web Services’ northern Indiana buildout is moving from groundbreaking into a jobs and training pipeline that local colleges and economic groups say is already placing residents into permanent data-center roles — even as neighbors press questions about water, wetlands, and infrastructure.
At the company’s roughly $11 billion campus near New Carlisle in St. Joseph County, AWS reported nearly 1,000 data-center operations hires by early June, with about 80% from the surrounding community, per Inside INdiana Business and WSBT. The Northwest Indiana Forum put the St. Joseph County operations headcount at about 900 as of mid-June. Either figure ranks AWS among the county’s larger private employers once crews rotate off site.
Those permanent roles sit on a training track Amazon and Ivy Tech Community College have been building for more than a year. On May 3, AWS graduated 58 local residents from its first Work-Based Learning Program at the new Campus Administration Building on the New Carlisle site, the South Bend Tribune and WSBT reported. Company officials said the cohort included people with little or no prior tech background who trained in machine learning and data-center operations. Sergio Loureiro, AWS vice president of global data center operations, told WSBT the campus shows “real people from this community with real careers at the center of Indiana’s economic growth.”
Ivy Tech’s South Bend/Elkhart campus is the main public pipeline. Chancellor Patrick Englert told WSBT in 2025 that the college had already run fiber-splicing classes, an infrastructure workshop on career pathways, and a pre-apprenticeship introducing students to data-center work. Fall programs in data-center technology and engineering operations followed, plus a “Core 16” track on resumes, mock interviews, and Amazon principles. Englert said the aim is stackable credentials transferable beyond a single employer: students should leave “prepared to work at any data center.”
Ivy Tech also hosts Amazon Career Choice pathways for current employees. For outsiders, the door remains Ivy Tech’s data-center pathways, HireIvy postings, and periodic AWS hiring events. Regional reporting has put average wages for permanent roles above $30 an hour — a figure county leaders cited when competing for the project.
The same playbook is now aimed at Jasper County. In mid-June, commissioners unanimously approved Project Rise, a planned $7 billion AWS campus on about 304 acres owned by NIPSCO near the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield — among the largest private investments in county history, officials and the Forum said.
Forum and county materials peg about 250 permanent high-skilled jobs plus thousands of construction roles. AWS is to provide $98 million upfront and more than $23 million in annual revenue for 10 years of full operation; officials have estimated more than $1 billion in tax-related revenue over 15 years, versus roughly $70,000 the parcels now generate.
Amazon also committed to fund campus water and wastewater infrastructure and to invest $25 million expanding domestic water service in Wheatfield Township, long reliant on individual wells. Commissioner President Rein Bontreger called that “transformative” for bringing municipal service to the Town of Wheatfield for the first time. Forum CEO Heather Ennis said the deal shows “what responsible economic development can look like when community priorities are built into a project from the start.”
Across 2024–2025, Amazon committed about $26 billion to Indiana data centers and about 2,100 new jobs statewide, the Forum said — on top of more than 40,000 Amazon-supported jobs already in the state. New Carlisle and Wheatfield sit alongside parallel northern Indiana activity, including Hobart.
Supporters emphasize permanent technical careers, construction apprenticeships, buildout spillover, and infrastructure upgrades rural counties struggle to fund alone. Critics — including residents who fought further farmland rezoning near New Carlisle and Just Transition Northwest Indiana — argue data centers replace productive farmland, intensify traffic, and stress power and water systems.
An August IndyStar investigation documented dry-well and aquifer concerns around New Carlisle. Amazon told IndyStar it plans about 18 million gallons of water a year there — roughly 162 households, the company said — and pointed to replenishment projects it says will return more water to the Kankakee Aquifer than the campus withdraws. Wheatfield materials say the campus will rely mainly on air cooling, with water-based cooling only about 2% of the year.
Wetlands remain a flashpoint. At a July IDEM hearing, advocates urged denial of an AWS request to permanently impact nearly 5 acres of wetlands and thousands of feet of streams at New Carlisle, citing a 2025 notice of noncompliance over earlier unauthorized impacts. Amazon has proposed mitigation; Just Transition’s Ashley Williams argued the agency should not “reward unauthorized wetland destruction with a permit.” Jasper County EDO Director Sara DeYoung said officials built local benefits into the deal from the start and that residents will still have questions. No firm public construction start date for Wheatfield has been announced.
Near term, the jobs story is concrete: nearly 1,000 operations roles reported at New Carlisle, a first training cohort graduated, Ivy Tech pathways still enrolling, and about 250 more permanent positions queued for Jasper County if Project Rise builds out. Local governments are banking on large payments plus water commitments written into the deals.
Region N3 will update as AWS, Ivy Tech, or Jasper County announce hiring or construction milestones — and as regulators rule on outstanding permits.
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