As 2023 nears its end, employers continue to have a hard time finding workers nationwide. And unfortunately, there appears to be no end in sight.
Recent work from the Manufacturing Institute notes that the United States could have as many as 2.1 million unfilled jobs in 2030. And without having access to the workers they need, the U.S. economy will suffer. The same report projects a loss of $1 trillion resulting from unfilled jobs.
Although there is no silver bullet to address this important problem, one thing is abundantly clear: Burdensome and outdated occupational licensing requirements are not helping the situation.
Occupational licensing requirements — which more than one in five workers must meet — take aspiring workers and entrepreneurs and turn them into criminals. It becomes a crime to pursue your life’s passion or a new business opportunity before you meet minimum entry requirements that are set and determined by your competitors that sit on a state’s licensing board.
Continue reading at The Hill.
Edward Timmons, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation at St. Francis University, writes frequently on the history and rise of occupational licensing and it’s relation to economic mobility.
Economics of Flourishing
As 2023 nears its end, employers continue to have a hard time finding workers nationwide. And unfortunately, there appears to be no end in sight.
Recent work from the Manufacturing Institute notes that the United States could have as many as 2.1 million unfilled jobs in 2030. And without having access to the workers they need, the U.S. economy will suffer. The same report projects a loss of $1 trillion resulting from unfilled jobs.
Although there is no silver bullet to address this important problem, one thing is abundantly clear: Burdensome and outdated occupational licensing requirements are not helping the situation.
Occupational licensing requirements — which more than one in five workers must meet — take aspiring workers and entrepreneurs and turn them into criminals. It becomes a crime to pursue your life’s passion or a new business opportunity before you meet minimum entry requirements that are set and determined by your competitors that sit on a state’s licensing board.
Continue reading at The Hill.
Edward Timmons
Edward Timmons, Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation at St. Francis University, writes frequently on the history and rise of occupational licensing and it’s relation to economic mobility.
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