University grads and professional guilds are trying to keep those they deem ‘unqualified’ out of jobs that should not require special degrees.
University grads and professional guilds are trying to keep those they deem ‘unqualified’ out of jobs that should not require special degrees.
P eople listen when Mary Jackson talks about breastfeeding. As a certified lactation counselor with decades of experience, she does not need a college degree to qualify for her job.
If anything, Jackson is qualified to instruct others. Through her work at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, doctors and nurses come to her for guidance.
Yet in 2016, Georgia lawmakers decided to meddle. Going against a government-licensing review board’s recommendation, they voted to mandate two years of college and at least 300 hours of supervised clinical work for all lactation consultants in the state.
The new licensing regime would have forced hundreds of women to pay for a degree they neither need nor want — at a time when college costs are climbing. Yet even as policy-makers debate student-loan forgiveness, many states are adding unnecessary and expensive education requirements for low-income occupations. The result is a guaranteed applicant pool for universities, colleges, and vocational schools, which thus have no incentive to compete for students by offering affordable, relevant programs.
Lactation consultants fended off Georgia’s new licensing rules. Jackson and her organization, Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, filed a legal challenge. A March 3 court ruling declared the burdensome regulations unconstitutional.
Students can invest in education if they choose. But nobody should have to pay tuition to learn skills they already possess just to satisfy occupational-licensing requirements with no clear connection to public health and safety.
Lawmakers, however, often err on the side of overregulation. One reason for this is protectionism driven by special interests. In Georgia, for example, the U.S. Lactation Consultant Association conducted a multi-year advocacy campaign for the new rules. The group has pushed for similar laws in other states.
Overregulation recently affected a practitioner in another field. It took just a single competitor to cause problems for diet coach Heather Kokesch Del Castillo, whose company, Constitution Nutrition, helps people live healthier lifestyles. When a licensed dietician learned about the enterprise, she complained to the Florida Department of Health.
State officials responded by serving Del Castillo with a cease-and-desist letter, ordering her to stop giving food advice without a dietician license. To obtain the credential, a person must earn a bachelor’s degree (majoring in nutrition or a related field), complete 900 hours of supervised practice, pass an exam, and pay fees.
Rather than accept the over-the-top restrictions on her ability to earn an honest living, Del Castillo sued the health department. If the state prevails, her competitor may celebrate, but Del Castillo’s clients won’t. Nor should any Florida resident. Protectionism is hardly an appropriate use of government force.
Another factor driving overregulation is elitism. With more job-seekers obtaining degrees than ever before, some employers have responded with new educational requirements to differentiate the talent pool. Private employers can do what they want. But similar thinking has seeped into government, where lawmakers and bureaucrats tend to be college-educated.
They see college graduates (like themselves) as smarter and more suited for professional work than those without degrees. As part of their bias, they impose educational requirements for jobs in a misguided attempt to better the lives of people who might want them. These requirements may look good from the ivory tower, but they create significant hardships for many families.
Washington, D.C., fell into the elitism trap in 2016, when education officials adopted rules requiring day-care providers to earn an associate degree. Home-based day-care provider Ilumi Sanchez already had a college education. Before immigrating to the United States from the Dominican Republic, she’d worked as an attorney. She opened her day care in D.C. in 2006, but her credentials and experience were not good enough for district regulators, who demanded a degree in early-childhood development.
Sanchez is also fighting back with a lawsuit. Washington already has the most expensive child care in the nation. If Sanchez’s case fails to stop the rules from taking effect, costs will rise even higher, and parents will have fewer options.
The challenges that Jackson, Del Castillo, and Sanchez face are not unusual. They are part of a nationwide trend caused by the explosive growth of occupational licensing. In the 1950s, only about one in 20 U.S. workers needed a government-issued license. Today, that number is nearly one in four. Many affected occupations are now off-limits to anyone without postsecondary education.
College is a smart career move for many individuals. But regulators who make it mandatory without a good reason flunk basic civics.