Inconsistent Laws for Jobs Licenses Makes It Difficult for Poor People to Get Jobs

2. Forty-seven states find it unnecessary to license interior designers, and yet the four that do find it necessary to receive 2,190 days of training to become one. This is a joke, and congressmen in those four states should be ashamed of themselves for this obvious and egregious handout.

3. Defenders of licensing regularly point to safety concerns, but for a large proportion of the occupations that are licensed somewhere, there are other states where they are not licensed, and in these states we do not witness of epidemic of wildly untrained barbers accidentally cutting off ears, for example. In addition, some jobs that clearly do involve safety often require vastly less training than others where the argument is much more tenuous. For instance, cosmetologists on average require 372 days of training, while EMTs only require 33.

Government red tape can make it hard to get a job — especially if you’re a poor person who wants to be an interior designer in a state that requires you to go through 2,190 days of training to get a license. Oh, you’re not a licensed interior designer? Don’t you dare tell me what end tables match my curtains!

Photo: Flickr/longlostcousin

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