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States Explore Occupational Licensure Reform

The consortium of states participating in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Licensing: Assessing State Policy and Practice project recently began their second round of project meetings to discuss occupational license reform. The 11 states–Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Utah and Wisconsin–are individually meeting to further review their licensure process, engage with policy experts and develop action plans. The state team meetings will culminate this year in the project’s second multistate learning consortium summit to be held Nov. 28-30 in Clearwater, Florida.

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New Occupational Licensing Analysis Opposes Traditional Theory

A commonly cited argument for occupational licensing reform states that licensing results in restricted employment growth and higher wages for licensed workers, which in turn increases consumer costs. Higher wages benefit licensed workers, but wage disparity leads to inefficiency and unfairness, including reducing employment opportunities and depressing wages for excluded workers.

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CSG Launches National Occupational Licensing Database

By Kathryn Price

CSG, in partnership with the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Governor’s Association, released the National Occupational Licensing Database to help state leaders better understand the national licensing landscape. This database contains information on the criteria required to attain a license in 34 occupations with 18 requirements being assessed. Some of the data points include initial and continuing education requirements, training, experience, exams and fees. Additionally, if a certain occupation is selected, a map of the states that require licensure will be produced (See top image below for map produced when searching the database for information on electricians). The database also allows for the user to make comparisons between states and occupations (See bottom image below for an excerpt of search results from the database when selecting to show information on cosmetologists).

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