(Opinion) Give New Hampshire residents the freedom to work

HB 1340 positions state to ensure employers have access to workers, services they need

LABOR

By: Edward Timmons

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, New Hampshire has one of the more severe labor market shortages nationally. For every 100 jobs available in the state, there are only 68 available workers to fill them. This means that many jobs go unfilled and this prevents businesses from offering key services and also holds back economic growth in the state.

Although many factors are contributing to the shortage, New Hampshire’s stringent occupational licensing restrictions are certainly not helping matters.

Nationally, New Hampshire has the 28th most burdensome occupational licensing environment in the country according to the Archbridge Institute’s State Occupational Licensing Index.

New Hampshire licenses 162 of the 254 occupations that are studied in the report. This is 10 more occupations than bordering Vermont licenses and 40 more than Kansas, the state with the least burdensome occupational licensing restrictions nationally.

Does this mean that New Hampshire residents are safer than residents in Vermont and Kansas? Unfortunately, no. Occupational licensing laws are often passed with the stated intention of protecting consumers from harm. But occupational licensing has spread to many occupations where there is no good reason to make it a crime to do the job without a license.

New Hampshire licenses foresters, for example, when most other states instead rely on voluntary private certification to regulate the profession. New Hampshire also uses occupational licensing to regulate soil scientists where the threat to consumer safety does not seem to warrant making it a crime to perform the service without first receiving a permission slip from Concord.

New Hampshire seems to have a licensing problem, and this is where HB 1340 can help.

HB 1340 first makes clear that every New Hampshire resident has a right to earn a living in the state. By emphasizing this right, the bill would initiate a comprehensive review of all occupational licensing restrictions in the state. Occupational licensing restrictions will only be retained where there is a genuine and measurable public health benefit from retaining the restrictive regulation.

Second, the bill would give New Hampshire residents the authority to petition state and local agencies if they believe that current regulation infringes on their right to earn a living in the state. The burden would then fall upon the state agency to make a clear and convincing case that occupational licensing is necessary to protect the public and there are no other less restrictive means of protecting consumers.

If petitioners are not satisfied with the response from the agency, they also have the authority to bring a lawsuit against the state if they believe that their right to earn a living has been violated by current New Hampshire law.

Why will this legislation help strengthen the workforce in New Hampshire? Economic research shows us that stringent occupational licensing reduces employment by as much as 27%. If New Hampshire reduces the extent of occupational licensing, more workers will be able to enter the labor market, and this will help ease the state’s workforce shortage.

New Hampshire employers need workers and state legislators should first look to onerous red tape that is needlessly restricting labor market access. HB 1340 is an excellent first step since it compels state and local agencies to review existing occupational licensing restrictions and remove those that are no longer serving the public’s best interest. The law also empowers New Hampshire citizens to hold state and local governments to account and always give their right to earn a living first precedent.

Taken together, the bill better positions the state for the future and ensures that employers and consumers have access to the workers and quality services that they need.

Edward Timmons is the vice president of policy at the Archbridge Institute, a nonpartisan, independent, 501(c)(3) public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C.