The US Marijuana Industry Lost Jobs Last Year Even As Sales Grew To A New Record High, Industry Analysis Shows

Jobs in the U.S. legal marijuana industry fell roughly 3.4 percent percent between 2023 and 2024, according to the latest annual industry report on employment in the cannabis sector. That marks the largest nationwide downturn in cannabis employment since the project began tracking full-time equivalent jobs in the sector in 2017.

At the same time, the amount of legal marijuana sold in 2024 grew to a new record high of $30.1 billion, a 4.5 percent annual increase.

The report, published on Tuesday by Colorado-based marijuana staffing company Vangst and the analytics firm Whitney Economics, finds that the industry shed 15,443 full-time equivalent roles last year—a dip analysts said “reflects a broader shift toward operational discipline amid regulatory challenges and market recalibration.”

All told, the U.S. cannabis industry currently supports 425,002 full-time equivalent jobs, according to the new report. Job gains were seen mostly in emerging markets, such as New York, which grew its cannabis workforce 209 percent last year, and Mississippi, which more than doubled its employment numbers (up 103 percent) from 2023.

More mature markets—such as those in Arizona and Illinois—saw significant drops of 52 percent and 25 percent of jobs, respectively, since a year earlier. Vangst attributed those losses “to oversupply, high taxes, and reduced consumer participation.”

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The new paper was authored by Beau Whitney, a Portland, Oregon-based economist who’s worked on the jobs report since its inception in 2017. At the time, the report was published by cannabis advertising platform Leafly, but Vangst took over the project in 2023.

The latest jobs numbers represent the biggest decline in marijuana industry employment since tracking began in 2017.

“The cannabis industry is maturing, shifting from rapid expansion to smart, strategic growth,” Whitney said in a statement Tuesday. “Even amid short-term employment declines, companies are adopting more disciplined hiring models and staying resilient through challenging conditions.”

“With $30.1 billion in retail sales and major job growth in new markets like New York and Ohio,” he added, “the long-term outlook for cannabis remains incredibly strong.”

Vangst Jobs Report 2025

The report projects industry revenue will only continue to grow in the year ahead, climbing an estimated 13.1 percent in 2025 and reaching total sales of approximately $34 billion.

Employment, meanwhile, is “expected to rebound in growth-friendly states,” it says.

And while movement on federal rescheduling of marijuana has slowed, a Vangst press release notes that “states like Ohio and New York are driving new waves of job creation thanks to expanding license counts and increased participation.”

“Flexible staffing, temp-to-hire models, and cross-trained teams are now key features of the industry’s evolving workforce strategy,” it says.

While the federal government does not track cannabis jobs numbers, the U.S. Census Bureau in 2023 began collecting data on marijuana business activity as well as state cannabis tax revenue.

The new cannabis-focused jobs report comes about a month after a separate report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that looked specifically at the U.S. hemp industry. That analysis found that even as more states and some congressional lawmakers pursued bans on consumable hemp products, the industry saw significant growth in 2024.

The National Hemp Report, which USDA conducts annually to assess the economic health of the market, showed that hemp farmers cultivated 45,294 acres of the crop last year, up 64 percent from 2023. And the industry’s value jumped about 40 percent, increasing to $445 million.

As has been the case since hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, farmers primarily grew for flower, which represented 93 percent of production. While flower can be sold raw, it’s largely used for extraction purposes to manufacture consumable cannabinoid products such as CBD.

Meanwhile, farmers produced 18,855 acres of hemp for fiber last year, a 56 percent increase. But yields from those plants fell by 21 percent, dropping to 3,205 pounds per acre. Coupled with declining prices, the value of hemp fiber hit $11.2 million, down 2 percent from 2023.

Hemp production for grain rose 22 percent to 4,863 acres, with farmers yielding 3.4 million pounds of grain in 2024. The value of hemp grain grew by 13 percent to $2.6 million.

Farmers who cultivated the cannabis crop for seed saw substantial growth last year, the USDA surveyshowed. With 2,160 acres of hemp for seed in 2024, that marked a 61 percent increase from the prior year. And the overall value of the hemp seed market jumped 482 percent to $16.9 million.

Meanwhile on the cannabis rescheduling front, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said late last month that examining a proposal to federally reschedule marijuana will be “one of my first priorities” if he’s confirmed for the role, saying it’s “time to move forward” on the stalled process.

However, DEA administrator nominee Terrance Cole repeatedly declined to commit to support the specific proposed rule to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that was initiated under the Biden administration.

Cole has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.

The nominee worked at DEA for 21 years and currently serves as Virginia’s secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security (PSHS), where part of his responsibility is to oversee the state Cannabis Control Authority (CCA).

After a visit to CCA’s office last year, Cole posted on LinkedIn: “Everybody knows my stance on marijuana after 30 plus years in law enforcement, so don’t even ask!”

Trump initially chose Hillsborough County, Florida Sheriff Chad Chronister to lead DEA, but the prospective nominee—who strongly advocated for marijuana decriminalization—withdrew from consideration in January amid scrutiny from conservative lawmakers over the sheriff’s record on COVID-related public safety enforcement actions.

As far as the marijuana rescheduling process is concerned, DEA recently notified an agency judge that the proceedings are still on hold—with no future actions currently scheduled as the matter sits before the acting administrator, Derek Maltz, who has called cannabis a “gateway drug” and linked its use to psychosis.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.