Almost 1/3 of US workers now need a permission slip from the government to work

University of Minnesota public affairs professor Morris Kleiner has written extensively on the topic of occupational licensing and has been featured before on CD here and here, and by Jimmy P here. Among his key findings: 1. Occupational licensing drives up costs to consumers. Licensed workers earn 15% more on average than their unlicensed counterparts in other states. Across the U.S. economy, occupational licensing adds at least $116 billion a year to the cost of services. 2. For several occupations that are regulated in some states but not others (e.g. librarians, nutritionists and respiratory therapists), employment growth for those professions was about 20% greater in the unregulated states between 1990 and 2000 than the regulated states.

Read more at the American Enterprise Institute