States with newly passed cannabis programs are expected to create tens of thousands of new jobs over the next five years.
On November 3, four states — New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota — voted to legalize recreational cannabis, while two, South Dakota and Mississippi, voted to create medical-cannabis programs.
All these states are expected to benefit economically from their new programs in the coming years.
That's especially true for a state like New Jersey, which is expected to have a robust adult-use program that will benefit from its high population and proximity to other high-density states such as New York. New Jersey alone is projected to add 19,037 cannabis-related jobs by 2025, according to a report by the cannabis recruitment platform Vangst, which tracks employment trends in the industry.
In states like Arizona and New Jersey, which already have established medical-cannabis markets, recruitment is expected to focus on product expansion in their new adult-use markets, according to Sean Cooley, Vangst's head of content and search-engine optimization. Edibles manufacturers especially are expected to see a big jump in job growth, Cooley said.
Cooley told Business Insider that Vangst had already seen an uptick in hiring in states that passed cannabis initiatives earlier this month. In the fourth quarter of 2020, there has been a 17% increase in hiring in Arizona and New Jersey from October, compared with the same period in 2019.
"Depending on how the regulations differentiating medical and adult-use products pan out, we're likely to see the trend line of production jobs — horticulturists, scientists, compliance specialists — coming into the state first," he said.
Retail positions like budtenders and inventory managers are expected to come later on, he added.
Vangst's projections are based on sources including job reports from the cannabis website Leafly, market projections from the cannabis-analysis company New Frontier Data, Marijuana Business Factbook, and Vangst's own hiring data. They take into account how quickly other states in the US came online after passing adult-use bills.
A total of 26,241 jobs are projected to be created in these five new markets, according to Vangst.
New Jersey is projected to add 19,037 jobs by 2025.
Medical marijuana approved: 2010
Recreational marijuana approved: 2020
2019 sales: $100 million
Current cannabis jobs: 2,356
Projected 2025 sales: $1.2 billion
Projected 2025 jobs: 21,393 (+19,037)
Montana is expected to add 3,119 cannabis-related jobs.
Medical marijuana approved: 2016
Recreational marijuana approved: 2020
2019 sales: $92 million
Current cannabis jobs: 1,800
Projected 2025 sales: $175 million
Projected 2025 jobs: 3,119 (+3,119)
South Dakota's new adult-use and medical programs are projected to create 2,531 jobs by 2025.
Medical marijuana approved: 2020
Recreational marijuana approved: 2020 (South Dakota is the first state in the US to pass both medical and adult-use programs at the same time.)
2019 sales: $0
Current cannabis jobs: 0
Projected 2025 sales: $142 million
Projected 2025 jobs: 2,531 (+2,531)
Mississippi's medical program is expected to create 1,176 jobs.
Medical marijuana approved: 2020
Recreational marijuana approved: still illegal
2019 sales: $0
Current cannabis jobs: 0
Projected 2025 sales: $66 million
Projected 2025 jobs: 1,176 (+1,176)
Arizona's transition from medical to adult use is expected to add 558 jobs.
Medical marijuana approved: 2010
Recreational marijuana approved: 2020
2019 sales: $181.5 million
Current cannabis jobs: 15,059
Projected 2025 sales: $876 million
Projected 2025 jobs: 15,617 (+558)