OTTAWA -- The growth of Canada's soon-to-be-legal recreational pot industry is starting to create a small buzz among job hunters.
The job website Indeed has released new numbers that show cannabis-related searches, while still small, were more than four times higher last month compared to the year before. The data say weed-related searches increased to 26 out of every 10,000 searches, up from six.
Employers, the data found, have also been looking for more help within the expanding cannabis industry -- from retail "budtenders," to production assistants, to quality assurance. New help-wanted ads in the sector were up three-fold last month, compared to a year ago, and now make up 25 out of every 10,000 new jobs on the website.
"Cannabis-related searches and job postings remain a small corner of the Canadian labour market, but they're growing rapidly," Indeed economist Brendon Bernard wrote in the report.
The economic possibilities and job-producing prospects of the cannabis industry have been rising in the leadup to Oct. 17, the date Canadians will be legally allowed to purchase and consume recreational marijuana.
