Cannabis Listings Replacing Auto Losses
Michigan Now Has More Cannabis Listings Than Police Officers – LPC
Michigan, a US state long known for its auto industry, now has as many cannabis jobs as auto mechanics. That according a report in MLive, a Michigan-based news source.
“There are now more cannabis workers than cops in Michigan,” MLive quoted the fifth annual Leafly jobs report. “In a state known for its auto industry, the number of cannabis workers is now roughly equal to the number of auto repair mechanics.”
That puts Michigan sixth in the US, surpassing even Oregon – one of the pioneers of cannabis legalization in the US – in the number of cannabis jobs.
Overall, the US saw growth in the cannabis industry, despite a pandemic – and despite being illegal federally.
“The legal cannabis industry added 77,300 full-time jobs in the United States,” Leafly stated. “That represents 32% year-over-year job growth, an astonishing figure in the worst year for US economic growth since World War II.
“Outside the cannabis industry, the U.S. economy shrank by 3.5%, the unemployment rate almost doubled, and nearly 10 million Americans saw their jobs disappear.”
That’s a jump of about 15 per cent to 321,000 cannabis jobs nationwide in 2020.
However, all of those numbers are unofficial. The US Department of Labor does not track cannabis jobs. Further, the state of Michigan doesn’t make cannabis employment data immediately available to the public either.
Why the Boom in Cannabis Listings in Michigan?
On the surface, Michigan seems an unlikely state to be associated with cannabis as Oregon and Colorado are. But it does have some cachet. Ex-Canopy CEO Bruce Linton joined Gage Growth in the months after he was fired. The Detroit-based recreational cannabis company planned to open 13 stores at the time. That market opened up in December 2019 and grew throughout the 2020 pandemic year. Monthly recreational sales increased from about $10 million in January 2020 to $61.6 million in December.
However, the pandemic itself may have spurred sales. Ontario saw record-breaking cannabis sales in October 2020 just as the second wave of COVID hit. In January, new Canadian data suggested similar increased usage. Nearly half of cannabis users reported increasing use during the pandemic, according to a new study.
In a state that was already experiencing tough economic times, perhaps a surge in cannabis use – and cannabis jobs – isn’t that surprising after all.
Economic growth has always been one of the promises of a legal cannabis market. Countries like Malawi are considering legalization for that reason. In Ontario, there was a marked increase after the province opened up cannabis retail licences. Most recently, Mexico sees economic growth by legalizing cannabis as well.
The Future Bright in the Cannabis Industry
Despite economic ups and downs in the cannabis industry, there is a lot of reason to be optimistic for 2021. People certainly are in Michigan. According to the Leafly report, medical and recreational revenues combined were on track to reach $1.2 billion by December 2021 in Michigan. That mirrors what’s happening elsewhere in the US.
“Since 2017, the U.S. cannabis industry has averaged 27.5% growth each year,” Leafly reports. “No other industry even comes close.”
And if full legalization comes to the US anytime soon, you can expect those numbers to jump. And Canadian cannabis companies to benefit.
Click here to view full story at www.mlive.com
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