U.S. Now Supports Over 321, 000 Cannabis Jobs
Even as millions of Americans struggle with unemployment amid the coronavirus-related recession, the cannabis industry is growing. A 2021 Leafly report indicates that legal cannabis now supports a record-high 321,000 full-time Cannabis Jobs across the 37 states with legal medical or adult-use markets and that the cannabis industry added 77,300 Cannabis Jobs in just the last year, representing a record 32 percent increase in year-over-year growth and creating jobs at a faster rate than any other American industry.
Cannabis Job Facts:
- It is America’s single greatest job creation engine growing faster than any other industry doubling in size over the past four years.
- Reports from the Bureau of Statistics indicate that 3X’s more people work in the legal cannabis space than beverage and tobacco manufacturing.
The cannabis industry was a bright spot of growth and opportunity in a challenging year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Declared essential businesses by many states early on in the pandemic, cannabis-related businesses not only created new Cannabis Jobs but drove a record-high $18.3 billion worth of cannabis product sales in 2020 — a 71% increase over 2019 — providing crucial tax revenue that has helped communities across the country. The growth of Cannabis Jobs echoed record-high support among Americans to legalize cannabis, and five additional states voted to allow medical or adult-use sales, bringing the total number of states with legal cannabis sales to 37.
