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The Cannabis Industry is Creating Thousands of New Jobs

Cannabis Industry jobs
Written by Alexandra Hicks

As you already know, the cannabis industry is booming. Aside from new products popping up almost weekly, there is also an influx of high-end jobs being created.

According to a new report from Vangst, a cannabis-based recruitment and job placement agency, the industry is expected to grow by 220% in 2019 alone. Furthermore, they reported an astonishing 690% increase in these job listings and a 16.8% growth in salaries from January 1, 2017 to August 1, 2018. Some of the most popular cannabis jobs in the industry relate to cultivation, extraction, and retail.

Naturally, a lot of low-end jobs are on the rise, such as budtending and trimming. But as the industry continues to legitimize, more are more professional careers are becoming available. These include jobs like finance, compliance, research, and operations. Even traditional employment boards like Monster.com and Indeed.com are filled with cannabis job openings.

cannabis industry jobs

Hundreds of thousands of people will likely have cannabis industry jobs within the next 2 years

When it comes to location, California is the place to be. The Golden State leads the nation in cannabis-related jobs with over 40,000 people directly employed in the industry and close to 20,000 in some type of ancillary sector. BDS Analytics anticipates that nearly 100,000 Californians will be working in the cannabis industry by 2021. In total, 121,000 people are employed by the cannabis industry throughout the entire United States.

5 of the Top Cannabis Industry Jobs

  1. Director of cultivation – $88,000 to $250,500 – All grow operations require a director of cultivation to oversee planting, cloning, feeding, watering, pest control, and management of growers. At larger scale operations, this position usually requires frequent contact with law enforcement for topics related to compliance.
  2. Dispensary manager – $56,000 to $98,000 – Because of the extremely regulated nature of the cannabis industry, managing a dispensary is significantly more complicated than managing a typical retail store. Not only does the manager have to stay updated on constantly changing laws and keep all the employees and customers in compliance, they also need to track inventory, manage operations, and create a professional work environment.
  3. Director of extraction – $72,000 to $191,000 – A director of extraction is the bloodline behind the production of oils, concentrates, candies, vapes, edibles, hygiene products, and anything else that contains cannabis extracts – such as CBD. To do this job properly, they would need experience running a laboratory and enforcing strict research and methodology protocols.
  4. Marketing expert – $35,000 to $100,000 – Although the starting salary is usually average, there is a lot of growth potential in this highly specialized field. Cannabis companies have to work through a labyrinth of advertising restrictions that prevent them from utilizing traditional marketing options through sites like Facebook and Google. This is where a skilled professional could really make a difference for a business.
  5. Advocacy and lobbying – $25,000 to $40,000 – A lobbyist is like the middle man between the cannabis industry and politicians. Although it won’t make anyone wealthy, it’s an extremely important career that’s perfect for anyone who is passionate and wants to make a difference. The lobbyist’s role is to keep the higher-ups in Washington “in the know” by advocating for new laws that benefit the industry.

If you’d like to learn more about jobs, industry growth, and cannabis in general, make sure to subscribe to our Weekly Newsletter, the top source for cannabis news and information.

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About the author

Alexandra Hicks

Managing editor at Cannadelics and U.S based journalist, helping spread the word about the many benefits of using cannabis and psychedelics.