The best job-market fix you’ve never heard of: ‘occupational licensing reform’ may be having a moment

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Nearly 30% of all jobs now require a license, up from 5% in the 1950s. That throws up barriers to entry, crimps competition, and keeps workers less mobile. Removing that license requirement is something politicians across the spectrum can agree on.

It’s an issue progressives and libertarians can agree on. It has unique potential to help service workers at a moment when many of those professions have been upended. And it just got some attention from the White House.

As the issue gathers more attention, more workers may find it easier to access occupations that might have had requirements keeping them out — and consumers may have a broader set of choices, as well. There are nearly as many explanations about why occupational licensing is mushrooming as people taking an interest in reforming it.

That evolution is a classic example of what economists call “rent-seeking.” It privileges those already working in the profession and makes it harder for new people to enter, which means incumbents may be able to charge more for their services, benefitting themselves at the expense of consumers. It may also be the case that giving that professional group what it wants leads to happier outcomes — contributions — for legislators.

iframe.twitter-tweet { width: 100% !important; } Nunn points to North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, a Supreme Court case decided in 2016, as an example of overreach and reform. The high court agreed with the FTC that a state licensing board made up of practitioners needed some supervision. “Their concern was the state was delegating too much authority to the industry,” Nunn said in a MarketWatch interview. “The dentists got to regulate themselves.

 

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Is kinda want my electrician to have a license...

Is this kinda like the trend where you don’t need to prove that you can read or write to graduate?

Remove regulations is a good thing

thanks

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