Occupational Licensing Reform Becomes a Cause Both Republicans and Democrats Can Love: New at Reason

There’s positive bipartisan movement toward occupational licensing reform.

J.D. Tuccille writes:

The White House recently announced $7.5 million in grants to organizations working to reduce licensing requirements and make those that remain portable across state lines.

“Today nearly one-quarter of all U.S. workers need a government license to do their jobs,” a White House press release publicizing the grants noted. “The prevalence of occupational licensing has risen from less than 5 percent in the early 1950s with the majority of the growth coming from an increase in the number of professions that require a license rather than composition in the workforce.”

The proliferation of licensing rules tends to “artificially create higher costs for consumers and prohibit skilled American workers like florists or hairdressers from entering jobs in which they could otherwise excel,” the release continued.

The announcement by a Democratic president came just a month after Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey signed several bills “to begin the elimination of burdensome licensure of scores of odd jobs—regulations that are often designed to kill competition or keep out the little guy, including the elimination of licenses for talent agents.”

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