大麻行業媒體MJBizDaily主管編輯事務的副總裁、行業分析師克里斯·沃爾什預計，今年美國醫用和休閑娛樂用大麻的零售額將達80億到100億美元，較2017年增長近50%，到2022年可能達到220億美元。如此明顯增幅意味著，該行業會有大量的工作機會。

沃爾什在大麻商業博覽會上表示：“目前大麻行業雇用全職勞動者預計有12.5萬到16萬人。從人數來看，美國從事大麻行業的全職人員可能比圖書管理員或者幼師都多，而且是煤礦工人的六倍多。”

到2022年，大麻業料將增加多達34萬個全職崗位，預計年增長率高達21%。

沃爾什指出，如果從更相關的角度理解，上述銷售數據意味著，2017年美國醫用和娛樂用大麻銷售額幾乎高出奧利奧餅干九倍。而且美國人對大麻的投入和訂閱Netflix網站視頻內容花費差不多。

今年加州成為美國第六個允許持牌照商家出售大麻的州，預計美國大麻業全年的銷售額可能超過麥當勞營業收入。

而且銷售額還可能繼續增長。雖然一些知名前國會議員態度已轉變，但美國聯邦政府近期內立場可能不會改變。然而更多州將自行采取行動，將大麻某種形式上合法化。比如，密歇根州的選民今年11月就將投票決定，是否允許娛樂用大麻合法。密蘇里州似乎準備就醫用大麻進行投票。新澤西和紐約兩個州也可能緊隨其后。

總之，今后一些年里將出現很多大麻種植業的工作崗位。（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審稿：夏林

Retail sales of medical and recreational marijuana in the United States are expected to come in between $8 billion and $10 billion this year (a nearly 50% increase from 2017) and could reach $22 billion by 2022, according to Chris Walsh, industry analyst and editorial vice president of MJBizDaily. And that growth means there are a ton of job opportunities.

“The cannabis sector currently employs an estimated 125,000 to 160,000 full-time workers,” he said at The Marijuana Business Conference & Expo. “To put this in perspective, there are potentially more full-time marijuana industry workers than there are librarians or kindergarten teachers throughout the country – and over 6 times the number of coal miners in the U.S.”

The industry is projected to add as many as 340,000 full-time jobs by 2022, an estimated annual growth rate of 21%.

To put the sales numbers into more relatable terms, notes Walsh, 2017 U.S. sales of medical and recreational cannabis were nearly nine time higher than those Oreo cookies. And Americans spent nearly as much on weed as they did, collectively, on Netflix subscriptions.

This year, with California in the mix, industry sales could top McDonald’s annual revenue.

The numbers are likely to continue rising. The federal government doesn’t seem likely to reverse its stance on marijuana in the near future (though prominent former members of Congress have reversed their opposition). Still, more states are taking matters into their own hands and legalizing some form of the drug. This November, for instance, Michigan voters will decide whether to legalize recreational use. And Missouri seems poised to put the issue of medical marijuana on the ballot this year as well. New Jersey and New York are also floating the idea.

That’s going to open up a lot of budtender jobs in the years to come.