The internet was in a frenzy at booming marijuana stock prices during mid-September (2018). And during this time jobs and salaries in the legal cannabis industry are steadily climbing as states continue to legalize medical or recreational use. Marijuana industry jobs are on the rise and salaries are increasing, according to a new report by the California-based employment agency Vangst. Those figures are expected to grow further as money continues to push toward the industry and the workforce gains experience.
Vangst, a company founded in 2015, has connected about 7,500 job seekers with the emerging legal weed industry. Recently the company surveyed 1200 cannabis companies, to find out who they’re hiring and how much they are paying. Vangst added information it has collected in its day-to-day operations to those survey results to put together a cannabis salary guide. Vangst CEO Karson Humiston said the industry is rapidly outpacing other US job area growth
Others in the industry echo the sentiment. “Growth of the marijuana industry has been extraordinary in every sense,” said Jon Fanburg, an attorney at the New Jersey law firm Brach Eichler. He was one of nearly 800 attendees at a bidder’s conference for six new medical cannabis sales licenses in New Jersey recently. He said he’s seen, “no shortage of capital and no shortage of property owners willing to supply locations,” in the industry.
According to Vangst, the most hired positions in legal cannabis are Director of Extraction, Director of Cultivation, Compliance Manager, Dispensary Manager, Outside Sales Representatives, Bud-tenders and Trimmers.
The range of salaries for some of these positions is rather large. The salary span Vangst found for Director of Cultivation ranged from $47,000 to $250,000. Job responsibilities include building standard operating procedures, managing nutrient, pest control and harvest schedules for a cannabis grow operation. Cultivation directors are also required to train their team to create high quality, healthy plants, using practices that are compliant with all state and local regulations.
Vangst found one of the primary reasons for the salary ranges had to do with experience levels of the candidates. On the lower end of the salary ranges, applicants did not have all the work skills needed and qualifications required to get up and running efficiently.
Company funding and company size also impact salary levels. Well-funded companies in newly legalized states sometimes have higher salaries said, Humiston. She said the new companies “want to be extremely competitive in their market from the start, which requires top talent.”
While the attention often targets California and Colorado as the biggest cannabis job markets, Humiston says other markets are rapidly expanding as well. A market often overlooked, is in Illinois she said. “We currently work very closely with Green Thumb Industries and Cresco Labs, both companies headquarters are in Chicago and are recruiting roles in marketing, finance, IT, HR, and legal,” she said.
Humiston explains that salaries will continue to increase as money continues to come in and candidates obtain more experience within the industry.
