Source: The Atlantic
by Rebecca Haw Allensworth
“The most important intervention in the United States labor market is not unionization or the minimum wage. It is professional licensing — government-required permission to work in a particular profession, earned after significant education and testing — that covers twice as many workers as unionization and federal wage laws combined. And the system that oversees it is broken. Researchers have known for decades that professional licensing is a bad deal for consumers and workers. … [but] very little has been done to meaningfully roll back licensing. In fact, the institution of professional licensing has only grown in its reach and outlandishness. More and more new professions are becoming licensed, such as art therapists and, most recently and most absurdly, fortune tellers. Reform efforts haven’t worked because none of them addresses the center of the problem: the regulatory boards that control professional licensing.” (02/12/25)