“Licenses To Work Hurt The Poorest”
Editorial
Tyler Morning Telegraph
August 5, 2014
http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-Editorials/203290/licenses-to-work-hurt-the-p
The justification usually given for government regulations is safety, and we fully acknowledge many of these are vital — food inspection rules, for example, and licensing requirements for medical personnel.
But seriously, how dangerous to the public is an unlicensed auctioneer?
That’s why we are encouraged by Attorney General Greg Abbott’s plan to reform many of the state’s licensing laws, should he be elected governor in November.
“There are currently 150 business activities that currently require a state-issued license before they can be legally performed in Texas,” Abbott’s campaign said in a release on Friday. “Some of these are necessary for the health and safety of our citizens, like licensing medical doctors. But many are unnecessary or overly burdensome. For example, why do we require a license to be an interior designer? Or a salvage vehicle dealer? Or a ‘shampoo apprentice’?”
In fact, occupational licensing acts as a barrier to employment and entrepreneurship, according to a 2012 study by the Institute for Justice, a Washington policy group.
“An ‘occupational license’ is, put simply, government permission to work in a particular field,” the study says. “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 three.”
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Abbott is on the right track in pledging to reform occupational licensing.