A new study just ranked Arkansas as the WORST state for having the most barriers to entering occupations. The study was just released this month by the Archbridge Institute and tries to fill a gap in studies conducted by others. The study is titled: STATE OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING INDEX 2023.
That Arkansas overregulates occupations is not a surprise. Arkansas ranked poorly in previous studies using different methodologies. The Institute for Justice ranked Arkansas as the 5th worst state and the CATO Institute ranked Arkansas as the 14th worst. From the three studies, it is clear Arkansas overregulates occupations.
Not all licensing is bad because sometimes it is needed to protect the public, but it is clear Arkansas has gone way beyond that and has gone into the business of protecting some occupations from competition.
The question is: Will Arkansas do anything about it? Many licenses were created because people in the occupation do not want competition, and the same licensees oppose anything that would lower those barriers.
A committee of Arkansas legislators spent several years studying occupational licensing to determine if some licenses could be eliminated. The high watermark of the effort to eliminate unnecessary licenses resulted in almost no progress. (See Curbing Occupational Licensing – Status Report)
We hope the new study by the Archbridge Institute will again put the spotlight on Arkansas’ occupational licensing. Arkansas will remain the worst or among the worst as long as licenses are used to protect certain occupations from competition.
Occupational licenses must be viewed through the lens of economic freedom, which you would think would be highly valued by a Republican officeholder.
