Cannabis Industry Will Save Economy with Over 250,000 Jobs by 2020

The cannabis industry currently employs 100,000 to 150,000 workers and nearly 90,000 are plant-handling companies. The legal cannabis market was worth an estimated $7.2 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent. In line with that financial growth, the job market within the cannabis industry is also expected to expand. A new report from New Frontier Data projects that by 2020, the legal cannabis market will create more than a quarter of a million jobs—that’s more than the expected jobs from manufacturing, utilities or even government jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Apparently, by 2024, manufacturing jobs in general are expected to decline by 814,000, the utility companies will lose 47,000 jobs and the government may lose 383,000 jobs, according to the BLS.

New Frontier Data and Analytics has been studying these numbers and patterns, and using surveys, financial patterns and data collection. “We expect the cannabis industry’s growth to be slowed down to some degree in the next three to five years,” Giadha Aguirre De Carcer, the Founder and CEO of New Frontier Data told Forbes. “However with a projected total market sales to exceed $24 billion by 2025, and the possibility of almost 300,000 jobs by 2020, it remains a positive economic force in the U.S.”

Medical cannabis sales are projected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2016 to $13.3 billion in 2020. Adult recreational sales are estimated to jump from $2.6 billion in 2016 to $11.2 billion by 2020. Even in the face of adversity and challenges ahead with government, state and local trials and tribulations, there is sure to be great job growth and financial opportunity for many people with the growth of this booming, plant-based industry.