The fastest job growth in Alaska over the next ten years will be in agriculture, but if you’re thinking farmers and cows, think again. The Alaska Department of Labor projects that cannabis cultivation will lead all industries in job growth statewide between now and 2030.
The biggest declines in jobs are projected to come from broadcast and print media. The data are published in the October issue of Trends, the monthly report of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Cannabis cultivation emerged as Alaska’s leading high-growth industry for jobs because – unlike every other sector – it did not suffer a setback during the pandemic in 2020.
Job growth in cannabis cultivation and production actually increased by 8.2 percent that year, far ahead of the only other sector to remain in positive territory – millwrights – which saw job growth of about 2 percent.
Statistically speaking, cannabis is lumped into the “farming, fishing, and forestry” category, but state economists say that job growth in this category is driven by cannabis, and its dominant occupation is farmworkers and laborers, which represent about 40 percent of cannabis employment. This is also where almost 80 percent of the sector’s growth is expected to come from in the next ten years.
Read the entire article at KCAW