Marijuana Industry Sees Record Jobs Gains In 2020 Despite Pandemic, New Report Shows

The marijuana industry added more than 77,000 jobs over the past year—a 32 percent increase that makes the sector the fastest in job creation compared to any other American industry, according to a new report from the cannabis company Leafly.

In total, there are now approximately 321,000 full-time jobs in the marijuana sector across 37 states that have legalized the plant in some form. The data bolsters one of the common, bipartisan arguments in favor of reform: legalizing and regulating cannabis is an economic plus.

But Leafly’s report—which is based on an independent analysis by journalists, data experts and labor economists at Whitney Economics—is all the more striking considering that it shows significant job growth amid the coronavirus pandemic. At a time when unemployment rates have risen and businesses have been shuttered across the U.S., the marijuana industry has proven resilient.