102 Lower-income Occupations
For its 2017 report License to Work, the Institute for Justice documented the requirements to get a license for 102 lower-income occupations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Read more about the research methods.
State Profiles
For its 2017 report License to Work, the Institute for Justice documented the requirements to get a license for 102 lower-income occupations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Read more about the research methods.
Select A State
What is Occupational Licensing?
An “occupational license” is, put simply, government permission to work in a particular field. To earn the license, an aspiring worker must clear various hurdles, such as earning a certain amount of education or training or passing an exam. In the 1950s, only one in 20 U.S. workers needed the government’s permission to pursue their chosen occupation. Today, that figure stands at almost one in four.
Occupational Licensing Blocks Americans' Right to Earn an Honest Living
Occupational Licensing Facts
1 in 4 American workers need a license to work.
On average, it takes nearly a year of education and experience, 1 exam and $260 in fees to work in 102 lower-income occupations.
Nationally, licensing costs the economy nearly 2 million jobs and $184 billion in lost economic value each year
What's the problem with occupational licensing?
Every American deserves the opportunity to earn an honest living. Yet occupational licenses, which are permission slips from the government allowing someone to work, routinely stand in the way of honest enterprise. Without these licenses, workers can face stiff fines or even risk jail time. The arbitrary and excessive requirements for licensure, though, can be an enormous burden and often force entrepreneurs to waste their valuable time and money to pursue a license rather than actually working. These burdens too often have no connection at all to public health or safety. Instead, they are imposed simply to protect established businesses from economic competition.
Updates
Arizona Governor Asks Why Government Still Adding Red Tape
By Institute for Justice
The Atlantic Profiles IJ’s New Edition of License to Work
By Matt Powers
Research
State Rankings for 102 Lower-Income Occupations:
Number of Occupations Licensed and Average Licensing Burden
More Burdensome Less Burdensome
Reports
License to Work
A National Study of Burdens from Occupational Licensing
Dick M. Carpenter II, Ph.D., Lisa Knepper, Angela C. Erickson, and John K. Ross
Inverted Pyramid
10 Less Restrictive Alternatives to Occupational Licensing
John K. Ross
Bottleneckers
Gaming the Government for Power and Private Profit
Bottlenecker (n): a person who advocates for the creation or perpetuation of government regulation, particularly an occupational license, to restrict entry into his or her occupation, thereby accruing an economic advantage without providing a benefit to consumers.