One Reason Why NC Is Out of Work

The resistance is in full swing. Download petitions and get updates at www.notaxpayerstadium.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/nostadium.


What does it take to become a private investigator in NC?

Three (3) years experience within the past five (5) years in private investigative work, OR three (3) years within the past five (5) years in an investigative capacity as a member if a law enforcement agency.

That's right. To become a private investigator, you pretty much already have to be one. What about if you want to be a land surveyor?

College Graduate, with Bachelor of Science (BS) in Surveying.

[This degree must contain a minimum of 45 semester hours (or quarter hour equivalent) of surveying subjects.]

[...]After successful completion of the Fundamentals Examination, and upon completion of a minimum total of two (2) year of progressive practical land surveying experience, one year of which shall have been under a practicing Professional Land Surveyor (PLS), applicants are eligible to apply for the Land Surveying Principles and Practice Examination (Exam II).

There are different routes for people, but this is if you already have a four year degree in land surveying. Can you say racket?

NC licenses 176 occupations, including pest exterminators, telecommunicators and milk testers.

While that might "Mmmm good!" for the people who already have the licenses, it's not good for the overall economy.

Licensing is a form of government-granted cartel. It keeps people out of the market, thereby raising prices and potentially lowering quality.

What does the actual research say on licensing?

The most recent study, from 2008, found 23% of U.S. workers were required to obtain state licenses, up from just 5% in 1950, according to data from Mr. Kleiner. In the mid-1980s, about 800 professions were licensed in at least one state. Today, at least 1,100 are, according to the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation, a trade group for regulatory bodies. Among the professions licensed by one or more states: florists, interior designers, private detectives, hearing-aid fitters, conveyor-belt operators and retailers of frozen desserts.

[...]Mr. Kleiner, of the University of Minnesota, looked at census data covering several occupations that are regulated in some states but not others, including librarians, nutritionists and respiratory therapists. He found that employment growth in those professions was about 20% greater, on average, in the unregulated states between 1990 and 2000.

Licensing can also drive up costs to consumers. Licensed workers earn, on average, 15% more than their unlicensed counterparts in other states—a premium that may be reflected in their prices, according to a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research and conducted by Mr. Kleiner and Alan Krueger, an economist at Princeton University.

[...]But whether licensing guarantees better-quality work is an open question. Several academic studies in the 1970s and '80s found that licensure boosted quality in professions such as dentistry, optometry, plumbing and real-estate sales. More recent studies have found no evidence that licensing improves the quality of teachers or mortgage brokers.

It's harder to measure quality in more subjective fields such as interior design or hair styling. But a look at consumer complaints about manicurists suggests licensing doesn't necessarily correlate with quality.

Eliminating licensing can increase employment in those fields by up to 20%, lower price by approximately 15%, all without a necessary loss in quality.

Why are we standing for this anymore?