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.
Nursery Worker
License required in 2 states
101st most burdensome licensing requirements among moderate-income occupations
96th most heavily regulated occupation among moderate-income occupations
What They Do
Nursery workers work in nursery facilities or at customer locations planting, cultivating, harvesting and transplanting trees, shrubs or plants.Licensing
Two states license nursery workers: Arkansas and Idaho. Both states require only payment of a fee: $10 in Arkansas and $100 in Idaho. These requirements are the 101st most onerous of the 102 occupations studied. Because so few states license nursery workers, the occupation ranks as the 96th most widely and onerously licensed occupation in the study.