Cannabis Industry Jobs and Banking Challenges in 2023
Recent reports on jobs and banking reveal the latest changes affecting the cannabis industry.
Released on April 10, the 2023 Vangst Cannabis Jobs Report – produced by Vangst, a cannabis industry jobs platform, and Whitney Economics, a cannabis and hemp business consulting, data, and economic research firm – found there are currently 417,493 full-time equivalent jobs supported by the legal cannabis industry in the US (1). This is reportedly a 2% drop in cannabis industry jobs for the first time since 2012 (1).
According to the press release, some notable key findings and predictions from the report include (1):
- Nationwide, annual cannabis sales increased by $850 million in 2022, which is a 3% rise from $25.25 billion in 2021 to $26.1 billion in 2022. That figure includes all state-regulated medical and adult-use sales (not hemp, delta-8, CBD, or unregulated sales). Adult-use states accounted for 77% of total sales.
- One of the newest markets within the industry saw exceptional growth while other legacy markets saw extreme drops. New Jersey gained 4,220 jobs in 2022, bringing the total number of cannabis jobs in the state to 7,367. On the other end of the spectrum, California lost 13% of cannabis employees last year bringing their total to 83,593.
- Michigan moved ahead of Colorado to become America's second-largest cannabis employer, supporting 35,405 jobs.
- 23% of cannabis jobs are in retail, 31% in cultivation, 17% in manufacturing, and 20% in ancillary and indirect jobs. The remainder are in wholesaling, distribution, and laboratory testing.
- Whitney Economics expects to see nearly 12% growth in revenue, industrywide, by the end of 2023.
Recent global challenges are affecting banking in the cannabis industry as well. According to a Reuters article last month, bank collapses in the US and Europe could possibly affect already restricted cannabis banking opportunities (2). Analysts estimate that only 10% of US banks and 5% of credit unions offer banking services to cannabis companies, and smaller banks, regional lenders and credit unions, which usually extend credit to the sector, are seen as facing higher risk from the current turbulence. (2). “US cannabis borrowers could also see their already higher interest rates go up further due to the crisis,” the article stated (2).
"What this crisis means is probably the duration of the capital tightness in our space (will continue) because we're seeing risk-off mentality," said Morgan Paxhia, co-founder of cannabis hedge fund Poseidon Investment Management (2). "We're expecting banks to become more restrictive with lending and that's going to have implications." Further contributing to complications is the fact that the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE) has not been passed in the Senate (2).
References
Ep 24, Part I: Data Transparency in Cannabis Testing with Yasha Khan
November 21st 2024Evan Friedmann interviews Yasha Khan, co-founder of MCR Labs, about his journey into the cannabis industry and his efforts to promote transparency and integrity in laboratory practices. Yasha discusses the origins of MCR Labs, which began in Massachusetts to meet the needs of the soon-to-be legal medical cannabis market. He explains the challenges faced, including result manipulation by labs and the impact on public health. Yasha's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) project aimed to gather testing data from 37 states, revealed significant discrepancies in potency and mold results. Despite some states' reluctance to share data, Yasha has made much of this data public, leading to collaborative research and publications on various aspects of cannabis testing.
Assessing Cannabis as a Harm Reduction Strategy: Insights from a Large-Scale Study
November 19th 2024A New Zealand study aimed to assess cannabis use as a harm reduction tool. Findings highlight lifestyle factors, and suggest cannabis-focused harm reduction strategies in reducing other substance use such as alcohol.
Ep 23, Part III: Accreditation in the Cannabis Industry with Susan Audino
October 24th 2024In Part III of this episode, host Evan Friedmann is joined by Susan Audino, PhD, founder of S.A. Audino & Associates, LLC, and co-founder of Saturn Scientific, LLC, to examine the complexities of sampling in the cannabis industry, emphasizing the need for proper sampling plans, and methods.
