Published on Nov 14, 2017
License to Work: A National Study of Burdens from Occupational Licensing is the first national study to measure how burdensome occupational licensing laws are for lower-income workers and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Download the report at http://ij.org/report/license-work-2/
The report documents the license requirements for 102 low- and moderate-income occupations—such as barber, massage therapist and preschool teacher—across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It finds that occupational licensing is not only widespread, but also overly burdensome and frequently irrational.
On average, these licenses force aspiring workers to spend nine months in education or training, pass one exam and pay more than $200 in fees. One third of the licenses take more than a year to earn. At least one exam is required for 79 of the occupations.
Barriers like these make it harder for people to find jobs and build new businesses that create jobs, particularly minorities, those of lesser means and those with less education.
License to Work recommends reducing or removing needless licensing barriers. The report’s rankings of states and occupations by severity of licensure burdens make it easy to compare laws and identify those most in need of reform.
Oh man, this one really boils my blood. Have personally felt the brunt of it. There were so many jobs that I was fully capable of performing but doors were closed shut because of licensing.
I mean I can understand the need for training, say for surgeons, air-plane pilots, etc., but for most trades and general services, this whole thing is a money-making scam.
Yeah, in every profession there will be jerks and con-artists, but The Common Law would take care of that/weed them out. May it come soon, where all are free to do the work they’re capable of.
.