TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kleiner,Morris M.
AU  - Krueger,Alan B.
TI  - The Prevalence and Effects of Occupational Licensing
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14308
PY  - 2008
Y2  - September 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14308
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14308.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Morris M. Kleiner
University of Minnesota
Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
260 Humphrey Center
301 19th Street South
Minneapolis, MN  55455
Tel: 612/625-2089
Fax: 612/625-6351
E-Mail: kleiner@umn.edu

Alan B. Krueger
Industrial Relations Section
Firestone Library
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: 609/258-4046
Fax: 609/258-2907
E-Mail: akrueger@princeton.edu
AB  - This study provides the first nation-wide analysis of the labor market implications of occupational licensing for the U.S. labor market, using data from a specially designed Gallup survey. We find that in 2006, 29 percent of the workforce was required to hold an occupational license from a government agency, which is a higher percentage than that found in studies that rely on state-level occupational licensing data.  Workers who have higher levels of education are more likely to work in jobs that require a license.  Union workers and government employees are more likely to have a license requirement than are nonunion or private sector employees.  Our multivariate estimates suggest that licensing has about the same quantitative impact on wages as do unions -- that is about 15 percent, but unlike unions which reduce variance in wages, licensing does not significantly reduce wage dispersion for individuals in licensed jobs.
ER  -