New Cannabis Job Data Exhibits Short Employment Durations

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]N[/dropcap]ew information released by Seattle-based cannabis data company, Headset, has revealed that cannabis job employees—specifically those in the budtending business in Washington and Colorado—do not always stay employed for long periods of time.

Among the cannabis retail workers that were examined in a year’s span, Headset found that 58 percent of workers did not stay employed longer than two months, while 40 percent of them didn’t last longer than a single month. Furthermore, only 14 percent of employees who quit had been at their jobs longer than three months. Employees who stayed longer were selling more, but overall, a majority of stores showed a higher rate of turnovers.

The monetary turnover between the two states was fairly similar. For Washington, a turnover period was seen between August and October. In Colorado, the spikes were in August and December.

According to a compensation data software called PayScale, “68 percent of people working in the marijuana industry believe their employers have a bright future vs. 59 percent of American workers over the same time period.” This high percentage of positive thinking among budtenders exists with a relatively standard annually pay as well, ranging between $21,000 to $32,000 per year.

Budtending is often rewarding those who love the industry. Headset mentioned that “Budtending is an amazing job . . . but it’s not all sampling product and shooting the breeze.” It is unclear if the Headset data predicts why so many budtending employees only remain with a dispensary for a short time.

Many states, especially those which have already legalized recreational cannabis, are finding that cannabis jobs are plentiful in comparison to other industries. According to New Frontier Data, the cannabis industry could grow to allow over 1.1 million jobs by 2025.