You Can’t Take It With You: State Licensing Creates Job Barriers

Occupational licenses allow states to safeguard the public and increase revenue by making people take a test and pay a fee before entering their desired line of work.

There’s a drawback, however. Licensing rules that are overly burdensome “can block people who would be great in that occupation” but can’t surmount the educational and licensing barriers, Ryan Nunn, a Brookings Institution economist, told Bloomberg Law.

Momentum for change is growing as occupational licensing requirements have spread. The states generally regulate occupational licensing, and many are modifying their rules. The federal government is using grant money to help them.

“Twenty-one percent ...