While not too long ago it was easy to see cannabis as a business that barely thrived in the fringes of the economy; the fact is that the cannabis market is one that has grown steadily for years. In fact this year the US cannabis industry can expect a big push, as experts indicate that employment numbers could reach up to 295,000: which would represent a nearly 50% increase from the growth projected for 2019.
To understand why this market is in such a large expansion we first need to clear up a few details surrounding it; first and foremost what an employee of the cannabis industry is. Cannabis employees are both the individuals who directly work in the sector, such as the people tending and extracting the crops, but it also covers additional workers who help keep the market alive, such as lawyers involved with the companies. In short cannabis employees is a category that overlooks at any and all jobs that are generated due to the cannabis market, even if they aren’t directly related to the manufacture of said items.
But why is the increase so notorious this year? There’s various factors helping this and amongst them is the fact that the cannabis industry hasn’t slowed down from the Covid-19 crisis. Sales of cannabis derived products have remained stable throughout the pandemic, and while a stronger economic crisis on the US could affect it negatively there’s no indication so far that this is likely. And as a business that was already accustomed to operating remotely the industry has largely worked as usual on these times.
Another interesting factor at play is that selling cannabis basically requires commerce owners to create a separate shop. The laws regarding the distribution of these products specifies that to sell them the products must be carried and sold in distinct physical locations, separated from regular groceries or drugstores. What this means is that cannabis derived products can’t just be sold on traditional markets, and to commercialize them they must have their own distinct establishment. As a result of this many more direct jobs are created for the sake of selling cannabis and marijuana products than for most other products in the market, because law makes sure that is the only way to sell them.
If these regulations were to change in the future the sheer number of retail workers the industry requires could be integrated into the traditional retail industry, and as whole cannabis wouldn’t have to be such a dedicated business. But there’s no reason to assume we will see such changes in the near future, and thanks to cannabis being a booming industry that has remained steady during these times of crisis it’s that we can expect these employment increases. It might be crazy for some to think about, but by the end of this year, the cannabis industry might have more employees than the US has employed computer programmers, and that is a really good way to measure just how fast the cannabis market has grown.
