Cannabis At Work released its second annual survey on salaries in Canada’s marijuana industry last week, and found pay scales for cultivation jobs are rising faster than other posts in the pot sector.
The group’s founder and CEO Alison McMahon said salaries for jobs like cultivation manager, quality assurance, cultivation technician and processing assistant have all gone up since last year — in some cases, as much as 14 per cent.
“If there’s anywhere in the sector where we’re seeing a talent shortage or skill shortage, it’s on the cultivation side,” she said.
On the higher end, a quality assurance person in Alberta is making an average of more than $103,000 a year, while master growers can expect about $81,000.
McMahon said cannabis producers are having a hard time finding people to work in cultivation because it’s a job that didn’t previously exist.
Some jobs in plant, flower or produce production can be transferable, and plant biology can also be an entry point, she said, but post-secondary institutions are just starting to offer programs in the field.
Olds College in southern Alberta is launching a cannabis production program next month.
“The problem is that we still have a lag in terms of actual enrolment into those programs and actual graduation from those programs,” McMahon said.
By contrast, corporate service roles like human resources and accounting have seen a salary decrease of 6 per cent to 8 per cent since last year.
As cannabis becomes more mainstream, McMahon explained, it’s likely getting easier for companies to recruit people for those roles.
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