Do You Need The Government's Permission To Do Your Job?
Only one in 20 people did in the 1950s, write the Chip Mellor and Dick Carpenter in the WSJ. Today, nearly one in three people do.
Mellor and Carpenter are writing about the whacked out licensing regulations for an increasing number of jobs. For example, it takes...most unbelievably...700 hours of training to become a licensed manicurist in Alabama. (With 700 hours training, I could probably successfully remove your spleen.)
Only three states (Florida, Nevada and Louisiana) and Washington, D.C. regulate interior designers, but the barriers to entry are astonishing. Governments demand enough educational and apprenticeship hours to keep newcomers out for almost 2,200 days. They must pass an exam created by the National Council for Interior Design Qualifications, an industry group, and pay fees totaling $364.Proponents of such requirements--that is, industry insiders and the elected officials who do their bidding--justify these barriers by endlessly parroting the same worn-out phrase: public health and safety. Yet if public health and safety were truly at risk, we would expect to see florists regulated in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., not just in Louisiana as they are now.
Such inconsistencies are also present within the regulations themselves. To work as a manicurist requires only about 12 hours worth of training in Alaska and 40 in Iowa, but 600 hours in Oregon and 700 in Alabama. Does anyone believe consumers in Oregon and Alabama are in need of that much more protection from unsafe manicurists? Or that there is much difference as far as consumer complaints are concerned? Mr. Kleiner compared consumer complaints between Minnesota and Wisconsin in certain health-care occupations and found no differences in the number of complaints between tightly regulated Wisconsin and less-regulated Minnesota.
State legislators largely seem oblivious to the counterproductive effects of the licensure schemes they create. In the face of our intractable unemployment problems, they work to erect even more barriers.
...Instead of looking to the federal government to create jobs, state legislatures could have a real and immediate effect on unemployment in their states by showing how less truly is more. They can remove the barriers to job creation that their predecessors erected and enjoy the job-generating drive of their states' aspiring entrepreneurs.
Mellor and Carpenter hail from the Institute for Justice -- an organization we should all support, along with theFIRE.org, defender of campus free speech rights.
What is really strange is the jobs that DON'T require licensing by states. I draw blood for a living and while I maintain certification through the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, it is not required by law in my state, only at the institution I work for. Venipuncture is listed by Medicare as a minimally invasive surgical procedure and no certification or even formal training is required by law, but I couldn't touch a lock of hair without a license according to law. So, to be a beautician here, it is required I go to school and pass tests to get a license. To stick an inch-long piece of sharp steel around someone's nerves and tendons without doing damage, no formal education in the matter is required. Another example of ignorance in regulation, only the opposite end of the spectrum.
Jessica at July 29, 2011 12:47 AM
Neat comment Jessica. The solution, of course, will be to regulate the unholy pants off the venipuncturists... There will be a proud new regulatory office at the state capital, with a thick manual of procedures (composed by a committee at considerable expense), and headed by a Ph'd something-or-other making $223,000.00 per annum... With only 10 field agents to cover the whole state (at $127K/per).
But the thing is, I'm pretty sure that if you ever punched a hole in someone someone's nerves or something, that there'd be all sorts of legal recourse by which you could be held responsible.
Crid at July 29, 2011 1:49 AM
And yet you don't need to be licensed to be a bullshit-wielding bureaucrat. My RN license was delayed three weeks by the idiots in charge in Illinois. First they couldn't compare social security numbers to determine that I wasn't another person who lived across state who had a similar name. I figured it out in under 30 seconds by looking at their own registry website. Then they accidentally filed someone else's arrest record in my file, even though (again) social security numbers and photos didn't match. Then they told me (twice) the wrong manner of submitting fingerprints and the wrong address to mail those prints to.
And they were hateful and rude as hell to boot.
Now I can respect the need for a background check. I handle narcotics and extremely sensitive personal information. But make sure that you don't act like a TSA goon while processing MY sensitive personal information.
juliana at July 29, 2011 4:00 AM
But state legislators will never do that. There will be, say, an incident at a nail sloan, the local TV news will be all over it, a local "consumer reporter" will mouth pious platitudes about regulations, and the state legislature will go to work.
alittlesense at July 29, 2011 4:15 AM
Yet if public health and safety were truly at risk, we would expect to see florists regulated in all 50 states
Well, of course! Do you know how badly you can get infected from a rose thorn? All florists must be certified to trim all thorns down to 1/3 of a long stemmed rose (1/2 for short stem) and ensure that all remaining thorns are securely wrapped in 160gsm paper, with a warning label stating "do not place in mouth, even if serenading a cute chick".
Thank the non-existent god I live in a relatively sane country where, ok, professions where it matters - doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians - are regulated but florists and interior designers aren't.
Although if you asked most people here in Australia, they regard the USA as the home of laissez-faire where anything goes. To describe, say, a privatised health system here as "an American style system" is considered an insult and an intent to shove poor people out on the street.
I keep telling people "Social Security is not means-tested". They simply don't believe me.
Ltw at July 29, 2011 4:33 AM
The Institute for Justice has cases on there that will baffle you.
My "favorite" is that the state of Texas requires that PC repair can be done only by someone with a private investigator's license (which takes about 3 years to get). What's better, if you let a non-PI fix your PC for money, you are also at risk to be fined $4000... http://www.ij.org/economicliberty/2188
DrCos at July 29, 2011 5:06 AM
Regulatory Capture. It's all the rage.
The PI's in this state wanted the legislature to pass a law that would not let non law enforcement persons do electronic forensics without a PI license.
Since very few of them know how to do it, the guild gets more money through mandatory membership, and the government gets more money through licensing.
And people like me that can do forensics get dick.
brian at July 29, 2011 6:07 AM
Since very few of them know how to do it, the guild gets more money through mandatory membership
Yes. These regulations aren't just politicians being short-sighted dicks. A lot of people within these industries love the barriers to entry that all this nonsense provides.
When I was in high school, I was dismayed to find out that I couldn't get a job washing people's hair in hair salons unless I was at least currently enrolled in beauty school. Imagine that. A lifetime of experience washing my own hair and I needed expensive education to wash someone else's.
MonicaP at July 29, 2011 6:33 AM
Another example of ignorance in regulation
I don't think your job is in great danger.
These sorts of regulations have two purposes: keeping the pool of "qualified" practitioners small, and as a result, artifically increasing the amount of money they can charge for their services.
Every now and again, I see some blithering politician (but I repeat myself) put forth a notion that computer/networking administrator types like myself be licensed. I'm self-taught, and sadly I'm not sure I could pass a formal exam.
I R A Darth Aggie at July 29, 2011 8:16 AM
Well, here's something that should make you happy.
When I started at Savannah River Site, you had to go through a training program about six months long (it really wasn't much compared to NNPS in the Navy), then pass written exams and an oral board in order to be certified a Control Room Operator and process radioactive waste.
Then it turned out that if you just had enough seniority, you could get the job.
Now, the company is looking to promote an operator who could not identify waste tank equipment while standing on it. I know the examiner who asked this personally.
Being a Federally-administered site, this person's competency cannot be questioned due to the existence of a protected demographic.
Radwaste at July 29, 2011 9:27 AM
That's because the bottle says "lather, rinse, repeat." The cosmetology license is so you know when to stop repeating.
Conan the Grammarian at July 29, 2011 9:33 AM
I think Timothy Sandefur should be mentioned any time economic liberty and the right to earn a living without government permission is brought up. He owns this issue.
http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/09/unrepentant-unlicensed-taxi-dr
Abersouth at July 29, 2011 9:34 AM
Licensing gives one power others don't have sanctioned by government. It also gives a false sense of security to those who need government to protect them from meanies.
Dave B at July 29, 2011 10:52 AM
I've got a hair appointment this afternoon, and I'm going to ask my hairdresser about the manicurist licensing thing. Up until recently, she employed a manicurist.
Cousin Dave at July 29, 2011 12:54 PM
I am looking to have some permanent make-up applied. A tattoo, on my face, in a very specific area and color. What I want for this job is a tattoo artist who has years of experience doing thousands of tattoos. What I have to have, according to the liscensing board in TX, is someone with a few hours of training in permanent cosmetics. Who then charges an obscene amount of money. WHo probably doesn't even work that often as this isn't a common thing to have done. Grrrr.
momof4 at July 29, 2011 3:39 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/07/29/do_you_need_the.html#comment-2386983">comment from momof4Ridiculous!
And how smart on the permanent tattoo. If you're sure of your style (eyeliner, for example), you can save probably hundreds or more hours of your life putting on makeup.
Amy Alkon at July 29, 2011 3:50 PM
My hair gal confirmed the 700 hours. She also told me that a beautician must have 3000 hours! The "training" is, for the most part, working in a shop and getting paid trainee wages. So there you go. Since you can't open your own shop unless you have a license, it's mainly a mechanism to limit the number of people who can open a shop. (Interestingly, barbers don't need a license. I have no idea what the legal difference between a barber and a beautician is.)
We have something similar in Alabama in the real estate business: before you can open your own agency, you must have a broker license. You cannot get a broker license until you have been a licensed agent for, I think it is, 12 years. Since agents must work for, and pay a commission to, a broker, until recently the broker's license was practically a license to print money.
Cousin Dave at July 29, 2011 9:28 PM
I talked to my barber some time ago. He had to go to a refresher course and pass a test at the end. He said they only really care about the hygiene issue and knowing what to do if you cut them...say you are giving a shave with a straight razor and accidentally slit their throat, what do you do?
He said you have to retest every 10 years. Initially you are supposed to take some long schooling, but he noted it is not legally required and being of the tribe they didn't really care for him...he took a 2 day class with a test at the end. He said the was for a barber, who are only allowed to cut and shave and comb. If you do things like coloring or perms you need a different license...but he didn't know much about that.
The Former Banker at July 30, 2011 12:37 AM
"I think Timothy Sandefur should be mentioned any time economic liberty and the right to earn a living without government permission is brought up. He owns this issue."
Referring to his Taxi Driver case specifically:
I lived in a suburb for a while. The local taxi services had a deal with the local bars. It was $5 from the bars to anywhere in suburb especially at closing time. Everyone knew it was off the books, but no one cared.
Anther case -- a guy called up the taxi service and asked how much to go from City X to City Y (about 90 miles), hang around for about 2 hours and maybe give him a ride back. The guy was going to court and didn't know if he was going to jail. The dispatcher called out to the drivers for bids to do it. But he asked how many hours they had on the road.
But at the same time the medallion system is a license to monopoly and thuggery.
I think that there should be some middle ground -- taxis have to have their rates posted (and there is no regulation of the minimum rate). If it is a by the mile rate a meters is required -- but a driver can . You can only have so many hours on the road per day. The vehicles need to be inspected on a regular basis.
Jim P. at July 30, 2011 7:01 AM
Nowadays , it is hard to find a better job. We have to really strive hard to have a better living. We can always find a job at day and we can also find for jobs at night. There's also some online jobs out there that gives home-based jobs so you can be with your family while working.
dubai hiring job at September 14, 2011 4:31 AM
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