Occupational Licensing Over Time and Across Countries
The analysis and policy implications of occupational licensing have grown considerably with the growth of the institution worldwide. This form of regulation has become still more pervasive in western industrialized nations with the growth of governmental licensing of occupations and its potential influence on the labor market and for consumers. Across the world governments and non-profit organizations have precluded individuals from working in an occupation for pay for quality, health and safety, consumer protection, and the disproportionate harm unscrupulous or incompetent practitioners may have on society. The benefits of the regulations to licensed workers may include incentives to take on additional training with more secure returns. The further benefits of occupational regulations to practitioners may be higher wages that are reallocated from consumers, and likely results in lost output. These concerns have made occupational regulation one of the major policy issues in the U.S., the E.U. and the OECD.