State permission to cut hair? Sell cars? Pa. to review its long list of licenses

The professions range from bridge-building engineers, veterinarians and dentists to hair stylists, car salespeople and marriage counselors.

Roughly 1 in 5 workers in Pennsylvania work in professions that either require or strongly recommend state-approved occupational licenses. Requiring employees in specialized fields to achieve minimum, industry-approved standards on education and training, the theory goes, protects consumers and raises the quality of services provided.

But licenses are also, by definition, barriers to employment.

And, as they have proliferated since the 1960s to cover hundreds of occupations across the country, there is a growing concern that many are burdening workers and artificially raising prices for consumers in professions where there is no significant danger to public health or safety.

In October, Gov. Tom Wolf ordered a review of Pennsylvania’s 29 professional licensing boards and its roughly 250 license types — suggesting the state’s current system may be unfair.

“Requiring a license to work in certain jobs helps to keep all of us safe, but those requirements should be fair relative to other states in our region and across the country,” Mr. Wolf said upon signing the executive order.

“Overly burdensome requirements and fees can block some workers — especially minorities or spouses in military families who move frequently — from starting a career and supporting their families.”

In an interview, Sarah Galbally, the governor’s secretary of policy and planning, clarified. “We’re not starting this from the premise that all of these boards do over-regulate,” she said.

Instead, the seven-month review will assess “what do we regulate and how does that stack up to regional comparison and national comparisons,” she said.

Licensing boards — which are established by state legislatures and with members nominated by the governor — can draw up a range of requirements, including years of education and experience, minimum age to practice, and hundreds of dollars in fees and exams. Requirements can vary widely among states.

Pennsylvania ranks among the middle of states with burdensome licensing laws for lower-income residents, according to a November study by the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based public interest law firm that has been critical of licensing.

In a sample of 102 low- to medium-income occupations

Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette Earlier this year, customers waited at Kool Kutz Hair Salon in McKeesport. The state requires licenses of hair stylists, as well as other workers.