States use licensing schemes, for contractors or professionals, not only to ensure applicants are qualified; but also to limit these careers to "certain" individuals. Many "licensing requirements" have the effect of weeding out highly qualified minority groups of low income. Immigrants, blacks, indigenous, and LGBT peoples; are among the most affected and are routinely denied access to these careers. For example, by requiring high fees and testing costs you deny the poor, which are largely minority groups. By requiring a "squeaky clean" criminal background; you deny many disproportionately targeted blacks and Latinos in poor communities. And, by requiring an excessive command of the English language; you deny many qualified immigrants from entering these fields. For example, electrical contractor requirements in the state of Georgia, require you to be endorsed by no less than 4 contractors, and they must all "certify", under penalty of punishment, that they have "known your work" for at least 4 years. This and other "requirements"; firmly keep these licenses in the hands of a dominant group, that has held them for generations. Effectively, states engage in Jim Crow like tactics, resembling the poll taxes and literacy tests of the segregated South. Lastly, the incentives to endorse individuals requires an intimate friendship and unlikely work circumstances. Having the effect of "grandfather clauses" of the old "literacy tests", and enabling those with "licensed" family and friends to effectively "inherit" these licenses. In this series, I explain these and more.

The New Period Chat Radio

Hector Vladimir 2024©

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