“More than 800,000 manufacturing jobs are expected to vanish by 2024.” quoted Giadha Aguirre DeCarcer, founder and CEO of New Frontier Data in a short video clip introducing the study.
Also, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the total US labor force to increase by 10.5 million people in the next decade. Legalizing cannabis nationally would be a major boom to the job markets in this scenario. The vertical chain of production including growers, processors, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers would directly benefit from it. There are other dozens of ancillary businesses also that would benefited including financial institutions, consulting services, logistics companies, marketing companies, accounting firms, and so on.
According to the Marijuana Policy Group, in 2015, a year after Colorado legalized recreational cannabis sales, the legal marijuana industry created 18,000 full-time jobs and contributed $2.4 billion to the state’s economic growth. New Frontier Data forecast this trend would repeat on the national level.
If legalized today, in all 50 states, the legal Cannabis industry is expected to create 782,000 jobs and 1.1 million jobs by 2025, according to New Frontier Data.
The legalization of cannabis is also expected to push economic growth by increased demand in various industries. Farmers need warehouse space and specialized equipment for lighting and irrigation for production of marijuana. Retailers rely on contractors and bookkeeping services to run businesses. In states like Washington and Colorado, legal recreational marijuana has also led to a boost in some tourism sectors.
Not just job creation, New Frontier Data found that, federal government would create at least $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue over the next 8 years if cannabis legalized in all 50 states.
As reported in Forbes magazine, the market for legal cannabis is currently estimated at $7.2 billion, is projected to grow at a 17% annual rate. Considering only the states that already have passed marijuana legislations, adult recreational sales will hit $11.2 billion by 2020, while medical marijuana sales will be at $13.3 billion. And obviously, any new states that legalize pot would only add to the sales figures.
“These numbers confirm that cannabis is a major economic driver and job-creation engine for the U.S. economy,” said Giadha Aguirre DeCarcer, the Founder and CEO of New Frontier Data.
In the same short video clip Giadha Aguirre DeCarcer further added, “Based on our own projections, more than 283,000 jobs will be created by legal cannabis industry by 2020. This only based on the current 30 states where medical and adult use cannabis has already been legalized. As additional states are expected to take up legalization between now and 2020, an even larger number of jobs could be created in US via legal cannabis industry.”
Reference Links:
https://www.newsweek.com/legal-marijuana-create-one-million-jobs-decade-778960
