Occupational licensing is a big reason the poor don’t become rich

Published April 14, 2018 4:00am ET



“Totally out of control,” “insane,” and “disproportionately hurting those who can least afford it” — that’s how Special Assistant to the President Ivanka Trump described occupational licensing at a White House event for millennials in March.

She’s right about the barriers that occupational licensing poses to low-income Americans who are trying to move up the economic ladder. A new Archbridge Institute report is the first to estimate how much the growth in licensing is associated with declines in economic mobility. The results are astounding.

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