Marijuana legalization promises jobs in Missouri. But how many?

ST. LOUIS - Missouri voters will decide in November whether they want to allow recreational cannabis in the state, an issue that has typically come with promises of leafy, green economic uplift.

If voters legalize pot for recreational use, some local cannabis businesses say their workforce would increase, or even double. And unlike the rest of the economy, still wracked with staffing shortages, it appears there’s a supply of candidates eager to work in the industry.

“We are seeing a huge demand for people who want to work in this space,” said John Pennington, co-founder and CEO of Rock Hill-based retailer and manufacturer Proper Cannabis.

Experts and industry officials credit the legalization of recreational marijuana with growing jobs from Colorado to Illinois. In Missouri, advocates say much the same: And while the numbers are hard to pin down and unlikely to be transformative, marijuana businesses will certainly have to scale up if voters approve Amendment 3.

States that have legalized recreational marijuana have generally seen some swift hiring at first, said Alison Felix, a senior policy adviser at the Denver branch of the Kansas City Federal Reserve.

“They’re looking to hire, open retail stores, grow product and manufacture edibles. You immediately need to hire quite a few workers,” Felix said. “Then as the industry starts to mature, which can certainly take several years, you see it growing at a much more moderate pace.”

Proper Cannabis would likely increase its overall headcount by 20% to 40%, Pennington said. Today the company employs about 160 people between its headquarters and three dispensaries, Pennington said, plus 15 or so contracted, full-time security employees.

The dispensary chain SWADE has 50 employees across its five local stores, said Jack Haddox, director of retail operations. Should the amendment pass, Haddox said he’d expect to double his employee count.

The best estimates

Precise employment counts for the industry do not exist, Felix and another researcher at the Kansas City Federal Reserve wrote in an analysis released earlier this month.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t have specific categories for jobs in cannabis growing, manufacturing or retail. A bureau spokesperson said marijuana store employees, for example, would likely be reported in the “all other miscellaneous store retailers” category. That segment employs about 3,600 people in Missouri, as of last year. But it also includes employees of art supply shops, candle stores and hot tub retailers.

Felix also found that recreational marijuana added thousands of jobs per year in Colorado, especially in the first few years after legalization.

For Missouri numbers, most people in the industry refer to the “facility agent IDs” issued in the state, a license of sorts required for each person who has regular access to a medical marijuana facility.

As of September, there were about 9,500 active facility agent IDs in Missouri, up from 5,000 a year earlier. If taken as a rough proxy for jobs, that would place the industry at about 0.3% of Missouri’s total employment, Felix wrote in the analysis.

Still, it’s likely a high estimate.

In Missouri, agent IDs are required for all owners, officers, managers, employees, support staff and volunteers. They are also required for any contractors who would have access to a facility for more than two weeks.

As for the future, Missouri is in a tight labor market with historically low unemployment, so there is not a massive pool of prospective employees waiting to enter the workforce, said Joe Haslag, an economics professor at the University of Missouri who has studied the marijuana industry here.

And there’s little evidence that legalizing recreational marijuana has led to expansive population growth in states like California and Colorado, he said.

Haslag expects that any effects on employment would come from people moving from other industries into the marijuana business. In other words, he forecast “substitution, rather than expansion.”

A therapist, a florist, a retail worker

Still, local marijuana businesses report a steady stream of applicants.

Haddox, of the SWADE dispensaries, said the company has gotten over 5,000 applications for 50 jobs over the past year and a half. SWADE offers $18.75 an hour for a 32-hour work week.

Dan Gummow, general manager at the Proper Cannabis dispensary in South County, said he recently received 300 applications for one part-time position. Patient care specialist jobs at Proper Cannabis start at $15 per hour, plus tips.

“It’s competitive,” Gummow said. “Don’t give up if you don’t get an interview right away.”

Even graduates of St. Louis University’s new cannabis science certificate program, he said, wouldn’t necessarily get a job at Proper. (But it would help. “That definitely gets you an interview,” he said.)

The jobs have attracted workers from a range of backgrounds, from nurses and teachers to bartenders and restaurant servers. Over the summer, Proper Cannabis’ internship program drew college students from majors like agriculture, business, human resources and psychology.

When Gummow reviews job applications, he looks for customer service experience. Pharmacy technicians are great candidates, he said, because they are used to dealing with the regulations and procedures that come with working with controlled substances.

The patients they work with are often seeking help for anxiety, depression and general pain. Some are undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer.

“People open up their whole worlds to us,” said Nathan Bischan, lead patient care specialist for Proper Cannabis South County. “Especially our regulars. I know some patients more than I think their family does.”

Sometimes Bischan feels like a therapist. But, he added, the job is also sort of like working at a craft beer company, because of the sense of community, and the customer-driven work. And sometimes the staff joke that they are “glorified florists.”

The day-to-day work involves a lot of red tape, Gummow said, because the industry is so tightly regulated. But otherwise, at the end of the day it’s pretty much like working at any retail store.

“We just sell cooler stuff,” he joked.