Occupational Licensing Research Paper

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Macroeconomics | Occupational Licensing | Regulations | | Karina Bueno | 12/14/2011 | Dr. Dearmon | Occupational Licensing Cosmetology has always been my preferred career choice. When I spoke to my father about being a cosmetologist, he opposed completely and handed me a list of business degrees to choose from. I spent my freshman and sophomore year of college completely hating the business school which my father had forced me to attend to. This past summer, I failed my first course, Microeconomics. So here I was, hating my future accounting degree, hating economics, hating management, failing classes, but most of all hating the fact that I was struggling with something I did not want to do at all much less for the rest of…show more content…
Licensing is supposed to create a boundary in separating people who know how to do the job from people who do not. Young (2002) argues that occupational licensing has many flaws. He stated that it raises prices and does not prove concretely that having a license insures better quality or safety. Also, the requirements usually do not insure “good practice.” The law places more attention to non-licensed practitioners than licensed practitioners who malpractice. Occupational Licensing requires schooling, courses, training, and other obstacles in order for people to practice their specialty. Some people who choose occupational licensing usually turn to it when college in not in their economic reach. As more licenses are received, the practice usually becomes more expensive. Although based on a good cause, occupational licensing has many faults that harm society more than it…show more content…
Occupational licensing creates barriers of entry, which raises prices for consumers, lowers production, and sometimes even lowers quality. As more restrictions are made, more people fail to obtain a license causing future entrees to become discouraged. By finding the relationship between the population size, unemployment rate, and amount of licenses in each state, it can be told that occupational licensing is affecting the unemployment rate. Data State or District | Unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) | Population | State or District | Unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted) | Population | Alabama | 9.8 | 4,779,736 | Montana | 7.7 | 989,415 | Alaska | 7.6 | 710,231 | Nebraska | 4.2 | 1,826,341 | Arizona | 9.1 | 6,392,017 | Nevada | 13.4 | 2,700,551 | Arkansas | 8.3 | 2,915,918 | New Hampshire | 5.3 | 1,316,470 | California | 11.9 | 37,253,956 | New Jersey | 9.2 | 8,791,894 | Colorado | 8.3 | 5,029,196 | New Mexico | 6.6 | 2,059,179 | Connecticut | 8.9 | 3,574,097 | New York | 8 | 19,378,102 | Delaware | 8.1 | 897,934 | North Carolina | 10.5 | 9,535,483

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