The United States is taking in refugees from Afghanistan after the country fell to the Taliban. Many of these Afghan refugees aren’t going home anytime soon, and the U.S. should do what’s in its power to help these people become productive members of society.
One of the things holding the country back from doing that, however, is credentialism. It’s an issue that affects millions of working-class Americans, but refugees also highlight the extent of the problem.
If a foreigner flees a country as it falls to a group that uses violence for political gain, the first thing on the person’s mind probably isn’t grabbing an occupational license in hopes that they can apply for reciprocity in the U.S. They might not even be able to get reciprocity because licensing standards vary greatly from state to state, and few states have universal licensing reciprocity within the U.S., let alone from country to country.
If someone can give a haircut, manicure, or massage in Afghanistan, however, and they understand sanitation standards in the U.S., why not let them work in a field in which they are capable? The same goes for working-class Americans who don’t have five figures and hundreds, if not 1,000-plus, hours for trade school to try and learn a skill.
In recent years, many states have decided it is silly to license natural hair braiding, a skill many cosmetology schools don’t even teach. The push for it came as many Caribbean and African immigrants knew how to braid hair, so it was a waste of time for them to take 1,000 hours of schooling that may cost more than $10,000 to learn nothing new.
The same is true of degree requirements for jobs. An obsession with credentials is a good way to prevent economic mobility and a great way to keep driving up student loan debt. If someone has the skills necessary to do a job, why should it matter if that person spent six figures on a degree? Local, state, and federal governments can address this problem by looking to hire based on skill rather than degrees. In July 2020, the Trump administration wisely made this change when it comes to federal jobs.
Degrees can be an artificial barrier to entry that keep well-qualified people out of positions. And in a poor country such as Afghanistan, many people likely can’t afford to go to college, and many women are culturally pressured not to pursue education.
The National Bureau of Economic Research has calculated the negative impact such credentialism has on American workers. It found that 16 million out of 71 million working high school graduates in the U.S. had the skills and capacity to perform high-wage work. However, 66% of those people were doing low-wage and middle-wage work — and a credential requirement was a reason for it.
So whether it’s a refugee from Afghanistan or someone with a high school degree or less in middle America, more must be done to make sure talented people have an opportunity to use their skills in the workforce. It would benefit the economy and improve many lives.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts. He is also a freelance writer who has been published in USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other outlets.
