Wisconsin is one of a minority of states with no legal cannabis industry jobs, as marijuana is still strictly illegal here. This has been true for years, but Wisconsin media recently repeated this fact in reference to a job report released earlier this year. Since the report came out, more than 40 million unemployment claims were filed nationwide, and job creation has become a hot topic.
The report in question states that the legal cannabis industry supports 243,700 American jobs, achieving a 15% annual uptick in jobs—“an indication of the industry’s continuing expansion even during a rough year,” it says. “The $10.73 billion legal cannabis industry continues to be America’s single greatest job creation engine.” At a time when unemployment is through the roof in Wisconsin, it stands to reason that we should explore every avenue to bring employment back.
Cannabis Is the ‘Fastest-Growing Industry in America’
“Over the past four years, the legal cannabis industry has doubled in size, creating nearly 121,000 full-time jobs,” the report states. “Call it America’s hidden job boom.”
The largest cannabis industry hotspots are California, with 39,800 workers employed in the industry, Colorado with 34,700, and Washington with 23,000.
The report notes that Nevada has as many cannabis workers as bartenders. This is in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. Despite only having been fully legalized in 2017, marijuana provides employment for 14,300 Nevadans, the report states, which means that Nevada now has more cannabis workers than truck drivers, fast-food cooks and school teachers.
Besides making jobs available, the cannabis industry also generates economic activity and pays taxes that go towards helping the community. Colorado’s state government collected $302 million in tax revenue through the cannabis industry in 2019 alone; since 2014, the total revenue from cannabis adds up to $1.31 billion.
Wisconsin has a population similar to that of Colorado and twice that of Nevada, for comparison. For now, Wisconsin is one of only 16 states which don’t have a legal marijuana industry, be it medical or recreational. Besides Wisconsin, the states in that list include Alabama, Mississippi and Wyoming.
At least 300,000 Wisconsinites have applied to unemployment due to COVID-19. The state’s Department of Workforce Development reports 291,113 weekly claims (56,000 in Milwaukee County alone) and 28,130 initial claims from May 17 through May 23. The state could benefit from new big employers.
Is this Information Reliable?
As the job report in question was not published by the government, readers might rightfully want to know more about its authors. The report was released by Leafly, a leading information hub of the industry. This is the fourth annual job report that the company created. Leafly’s findings are in line with what other studies have uncovered; Marijuana Business Daily studied the same topic and reach similar conclusions, estimating that there are more cannabis industry workers than web developers nationwide.
“Cannabis businesses across the country have been deemed essential during this pandemic, and these businesses and their estimated 243,000 employees deserve equity with other legal businesses,” Rep. Ed Perlmutter said, repeating Leafly’s findings, as he was arguing in favor of a cannabis act that was approved by the House. Other prominent figures in the industry, such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), also consider Leafly’s estimate accurate.
The reason why politicians and experts rely on information from private actors is because the government refuses to provide key data about economic activity surrounding marijuana—which is still federally illegal. Each job in America is identified with a NAICS code, which are what enables the collection of data and statistics. Although there is a distinct NAICS code for sugar beet farmers and another for manufacturers of creamery butter, cannabis does not have dedicated NAICS identifiers. A cannabis worker can be identified by NAICS code 325411 (botanical manufacturing), 111419 (food crops grown under cover), 111998 (miscellaneous crop farming) or 453998 (miscellaneous store retailers) among others. NAICS lumps marijuana retailers, both medical and recreational, together with candle shops, cake decorating stores and religious supply stores.
“Every year, Leafly’s data team compiles a state-by-state tally of full-time-equivalent
jobs supported by legal cannabis. We do it because economists at state agencies and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics refuse to count them,” Leafly’s report explains. In the absence of reports from governmental agencies, Leafly’s findings are our best guess about the real size of the cannabis industry.
“Cannabis offers a unique opportunity to count employment specifically because of the highly regulated nature of the industry. State regulators don’t track sales of roses the way they track cannabis, which is often scrutinized down to the last gram and the last cent. Every legal cannabis state requires some form of mandatory reporting, whether it’s license-tracked monthly sales, patient counts, or cannabis worker permits,” the report reads.
Leafly’s report is one of several initiatives to better understand the budding marijuana industry. The industry went from employing 122,000 people in 2017 to 243,000 in 2020, and its growth doesn’t seem likely to stop soon. If Marijuana Business Daily estimates are correct, then the number of cannabis-related jobs will double again by 2023, totaling up to 475,000 jobs.
