After years of growth, Alaska’s cannabis industry appears to be hitting a plateau, with the pace of employment and tax revenue increases leveling off.
The assessment comes from a new report on Alaska’s economic trends by the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which finds the industry has “matured” since last evaluated.
Alaskans voted to legalize adult-use cannabis businesses in 2014, and the first operations opened shop at the end of 2016. Employment and tax revenues ballooned in the industry’s first years, with total jobs doubling from 2017 to 2018, but has since started to level out, indicating the industry may be approaching a ceiling, if not already there.
“The industry has settled in since that first snapshot. Jobs, wages, and taxes have continued to grow, but at a slower pace each year,” wrote Karinne Wiebold, the report’s author.
To read the complete article, go to www.adn.com