What should Alaska lawmakers' New Year's resolutions be? I have a suggestion: Break down barriers to opportunity for the least fortunate.
Elected officials in Anchorage City Hall and the state government in Juneau should start by rolling back burdensome occupational licensing regulations, which stand in the way of low-income job-seekers and budding entrepreneurs.
Most people have never heard of occupational licenses, yet they are a growing hindrance to economic mobility both in Alaska and across the country. Before you can work in many professions, you are forced to seek permission from your state or local government in the form of an occupational license. To make matters more difficult, you often have to pay a significant sum of money or spend months -- and sometimes years -- in training before beginning your career.
That wasn't a huge deal when occupational licenses only applied to lawyers, doctors and airline pilots. But other businesses quickly found they could handicap competitors and innovative startups if they licensed their own industries.
In July, the White House released a report detailing how occupational licensing laws have proliferated: "(M)ore than one-quarter of U.S. workers now require a license to do their jobs." At the state level, "the share of workers licensed ... has risen five-fold since the 1950s." One recent academic estimate even puts the number of licensed jobs at nearly one in three.
Today, after years of lobbying campaigns by special interests, occupational licenses apply to hundreds of different entry-level and midlevel professions. Alaska is no exception.
According to the Institute for Justice, no fewer than 44 of the 100-most common low- and moderate-income jobs in the state require licenses. Barber. Travel guide. Manicurist. On the whole, the average Alaska license costs $373 and requires 179 days in education or training.
And those are just some of the state occupational licenses. There are even more passed by cities like Anchorage, which only restrict further an individual's attempt to earn a living. These laws vary -- and conflict -- from city to city and state to state, making it that much harder for Alaskans to find work and make a living.
We're starting to learn just how much harm occupational licenses have caused. The White House again put it best, saying that licensing can "raise the price of goods and services" and "restrict employment opportunities" for those who need them most.
In fact, a 2011 academic study found that occupational licenses have prevented the creation of nearly 3 million jobs. They also cost consumers a whopping $203 billion in higher costs every year.
Occupational licenses also turn away potential entrepreneurs, especially in low-income communities. A 2015 study by an Arizona State University researcher found heavier licensing correlates with an 11 percent lower entrepreneurship rate for people at the bottom of the income scale.
These licenses also harm those who have run afoul of the criminal justice system. Once nonviolent ex-offenders pay their debt to society, they should be encouraged to rejoin it by finding a job or starting a business. Sadly, their own government bars them from pursuing a career that requires a license.
Knocking down these barriers is both morally praiseworthy and economically beneficial. Lawmakers in Anchorage and the state government should, at the very least, prevent the creation of new occupational licenses. Better yet, they should roll back those that already exist. If lawmakers do this, they'll help countless low- and middle-income Alaskans improve their lives and climb the ladder of opportunity.
Surely that's a New Year's resolution worth making -- and keeping.
Mark V. Holden is general counsel and senior vice president at Koch Industries.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.