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ILLINOIS LAGS IN EASING
ENTRY REGULATIONS FOR PROFESSIONS
Illinois Policy Institute
In Illinois,
professionals such as auctioneers, makeup artists and manicurists cannot
work without the government’s permission. Even as increasing numbers of
Illinoisans flee the state in search of better opportunities, as many as
1 in 4 jobs may be off-limits to the people who want to do them. And in
many cases those same workers can travel to another state and do that
same job without a license.
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 A new Tennessee law seeks to address that problem by making it easier for
residents of that state to do their jobs without interference from government.
The “Right to Earn a Living Act” forces government agencies to review entry
regulations and eliminate any unnecessary rules. With the new law, Tennessee
becomes the latest state to join a bipartisan effort to eliminate a set of
regulations that hurt the least well off. Earlier in 2016, Arizona passed a
substantial repeal of unnecessary entry regulations. And in 2015, the White
House released a report arguing for reform of entry regulations.
Entry regulations determine who can and cannot do a job. For example, only a
licensed doctor can perform surgery. But entry regulations go far beyond simply
protecting safety and welfare. Illinois also regulates auctioneers, barbers and
manicurists. And a surprising number of licenses are specific to only a few
states. Illinois is one of 16 states to license sign language interpreters, one
of 13 to license locksmiths and one of just nine states to license farm labor
contractors.
Licenses are supposed to exist to protect the public, but a rising body of
evidence shows they exist more frequently to protect members of a profession
from competition. And raising the barriers to entering a profession hurts those
with the least means the most. It takes more than a thousand days of education
to become a security alarm installer in Illinois and costs more than $800. That
effectively makes the profession inaccessible to low-income workers even though
those workers could take the same job in many other states without any license
at all.
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 When people are shut out of professions, customers suffer too. A
makeup artist in Illinois requires at least a 12th-grade education
and 175 days of training: half a year if the person has time to take
that training continuously. It is possible that training might
improve the quality of makeup application, but taking away
competition has the opposite effect. A makeup artist can be well
trained but still provide poor service, in which case she is far
more likely to lose business – unless the government artificially
limits competition.
Restricting competition also drives up prices. One study
estimates each Illinois household pays $1,245 a year for
occupational licensing.
The new law in Tennessee provides a way of eliminating some of these
harms. It forces all state and local government agencies to review
the restrictions they place on entering professions and to repeal
those laws if they do not serve a public health, safety, or welfare
purpose. That means more Tennesseans will be able to find work, and
consumers will get a better deal.
As Illinois struggles to pass a balanced budget and many communities
face economic decline and shrinking populations, it makes sense for
the state to eliminate laws preventing people from finding work
within the state.
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