Canadian Cannabis Job Searches Triple As Country Heads Toward Legalization

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]C[/dropcap]anada has seen a surge in job searches related to cannabis as the country heads toward legalization of cannabis this fall.

Indeed’s Hiring Lab published its results on Tuesday showing the changes in job searches as the cannabis industry begins to grow in Canada ahead of the Oct. 17 legalization. Recent data collected from the popular job application site Indeed shows that one year ago, searches for Canadian job postings in the cannabis industry were at eight searches per 10,000. Now, there are 25 searches per 10,000.

To track the trend, the lab followed total searches in Canada that included the terms “cannabis,” “marijuana,” “dispensary,” “weed” and “budtender” on a weekly basis for the past year. Indeed’s data results also showed an increase in searches when Canadian cannabis stocks surged ahead of Christmas, and another 40 percent increase following the announcement of the legalization date back in June. “And while the sector is too small for official job vacancy statistics to track it with much precision, the granular detail of Indeed’s job posting data can pinpoint exactly what positions cannabis companies are looking to fill and how employer demand varies across regions,” wrote Indeed Hiring Lab economist Brendan Bernard in the report. “Three of the 10 jobs with the most openings in 2018 are directly involved in the production process: quality assurance person, production assistant and trimmer. Maintenance technician is the top production support role, while plant maintenance plumber and sanitation technician also land in the top 25.”

There was also a noted change in terms used for those seeking employment in the cannabis industry. The term “marijuana” was on equal terms with “cannabis” in searches last summer. Now, searches on “cannabis” now outnumber the term “marijuana” five to one.

The top five cannabis job titles posted on Indeed are Quality Assurance Person, Budtender, Production Assistant, Executive Assistant and Maintenance Technician.

In four of Canada’s provinces, there were over 100 job postings in 2018 that were related to the cannabis industry. British Columbia lead the way for job searches, while Ontario held the most job postings with over half of Canada’s cannabis industry job postings located there.