Actually, most state licensing programs hurt just about everybody except the established business people who successfully lobby for and then enforce the licensing requirements, thus keeping out all new competition.
A handful of regulations are about consumer or employee safety. Most are about the government collecting fees and acting as enforcers in the protection racket.
Ed has a case demonstrating the point:
For more than a century, the brothers at Saint Joseph Abbey in St. Benedict, Louisiana, have supported themselves through the making of simple caskets, but that way of life is now under attack. The state of Louisiana has taken the abbey and its leaders to court for violating laws that require caskets to be sold through licensed funeral homes, and the monks could face large fines and even jail time for offering its simplicity to consumers.
More at the link. There's also this in the comments:
California, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire Restrict the Most Jobs
Hair braider, fortune teller, florist and interior designer are some of the jobs for which states require licenses
August 24, 2007Los Angeles (August 24, 2007) – Do you want to be a fortune teller in Maryland? Your future better include a license from the state. How about being a hair braider in Mississippi? You’ll need 300 to 1,500 hours of training and government permission. Want to sell flowers in Louisiana? Only licensed florists can do that. And almost every state requires certification if you want to move furniture and hang art while calling yourself an interior designer.
In California, there are a total of 177 different jobs that require a special license or credential, the most in the country, according to a new Reason Foundation study examining occupational licensing trends.
Northeastern states aren’t much better. Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire all require job seekers to obtain a license before performing more than 130 jobs. In stark contrast, you can do most of those very same jobs – without a license – in Missouri, where just 41 careers require certification.
Ranking the States on Occupational Licensing
States (Number of jobs requiring a license)1. California (177) 26. Virginia (89)
……
25. South Dakota (90) 50. Missouri (41)“Most of these licensing requirements are completely arbitrary,” said Adam B. Summers, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation and author of the report. “You see that clearly when examining neighboring states. California has 177 job categories licensed. But if you take one step across the state line into Arizona just 72 careers are licensed. In North Carolina you need a license to do 107 jobs. Next door in South Carolina, only 60 jobs require certification.”
Proponents claim these licensing requirements are needed to protect the public from unscrupulous, incompetent, or dangerous practitioners. However, numerous studies show these laws actually reduce consumer protection and public safety, according to the Reason Foundation report.
“These laws are created under the guise of ‘helping’ consumers,” Summers said. “In reality, the laws are helping existing businesses keep out competition, restricting consumer choice, destroying entrepreneurship, and driving up prices.”
A summary of the study is available at http://www.reason.org/ps361polsum.pdf.
In some states it takes more hours to become licensed to simply braid hair than it takes to become a cop and be issued a gun and a taser.
