The number of employees in the cannabis industry continues to grow as the market expands
While so many industries and small businesses are going bankrupt, with many closing their doors forever, there is one very bright spot on the employment horizon. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted so many lives now. So many good workers that simply do not have professions to go back to anymore.
Just a short few years ago, this would have probably never occurred to many, the possibility of working in the cannabis industry. Cannabis is America’s fastest-growing industry. A report out just this week by Leafly Jobs Report reported that, in the US alone, there are some 321,000 full-time equivalent jobs working and all supported by a legal cannabis industry.
That means everyone from the growers and gardeners to the retail shop workers. From seed to sale, as the saying goes. It may be a bit staggering to think about, but there are twice as many legal cannabis workers in the US as there are dentists. In fact, jobs in the marijuana industry have grown by 161% in just the past four years.
Mostly driven by the coronavirus crisis, marijuana sales shot up 71% in 2020 and show no signs of slowing down in 2021. Cannabis is now an $18.3 billion industry in the United States where adult-use recreational marijuana is fully legal in 16 states with several others, including New York and New Jersey pending.
Big-time mergers are being made in the cannabis industry, creating huge multi-national companies with vast indoor growing facilities, research labs and production shops all under one umbrella. Many have their own chain of retail outlets and most of them already have expansion plans.