Michigan has a chance to lead U.S. on licensing reform

OPINION:

More than most other states, Michigan is desperate for people. For two straight years, we have lost population to competitors such as Ohio and Florida, and more Michiganders are dying than being born.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer built a whole task force in 2023 to come up with solutions to the crisis, only to get pointless and ineffective recommendations, such as more mass transit and select business subsidies. A far better bet is to make it easier for people to find work in Michigan, and the state now has a golden opportunity.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Michigan support making it easier to live and work in Michigan. A group of state lawmakers recently introduced the nation’s most sweeping plan to reform occupational licensing. All told, these 55 bills would fundamentally reform licenses, which are basically government permission slips that people must get to work in hundreds of industries. Licenses often cost thousands of dollars or require years of unnecessary education. That obviously gives people in other states less incentive to move to Michigan because they can’t easily earn a paycheck. It also gives residents more reason to leave because they can get better jobs in states with fewer barriers.

Michigan’s licensing system is nonsensical. According to the Institute for Justice, at least 30 other states impose fewer licensing burdens on would-be workers. While other states have been removing these barriers, Michigan has been building them higher. Currently, all Michigan’s biggest regional competitors, even Illinois, make it easier for people to avoid unnecessary or unaffordable licenses.

All told, the institute looked at 102 jobs and found that Michigan forces people to get licenses in 48 of them. The list includes athletic trainers, HVAC contractors, barbers and landscape contractors. In these and many, many other careers, Michigan requires way more training than is necessary to protect the public, giving people one less reason to stay in or move to Michigan.

That’s especially true when you realize how high the licensing burdens are. The average cost is nearly $300, a lot of money at a time when most families are struggling to make ends meet. It’s also a tough bar to clear for people thinking of moving to the state. Why should they pay to uproot their lives in another state and then have to pay even more to get a simple job?

Worse, Michigan requires that would-be workers in these industries spend more than 300 days in the classroom. That’s nearly a year, and it usually comes at the expense of actually working and making money. Good luck getting pharmacy technicians to move to Michigan, where they have to fork over more than $264 and spend 501 hours in training. Why go through the hassle when they could get the same job much faster in another state?

Clearly, Michigan needs to shred its nonsensical licensing system, and that’s exactly what state lawmakers are trying to do with 55 bills they have introduced.

To start, they are repealing many licenses entirely. Landscape architects, school librarians and job seekers in several other industries would no longer face government-mandated barriers to work. Other jobs, such as accountants and barbers, would require less time in school. Physicians and dentists could get continuing education online, making it easier and more affordable to keep their licenses.

Perhaps most important, these lawmakers want to create licensing reciprocity with other states. A person who has obtained a license in another state wouldn’t have to get a new one in Michigan. That’s basic common sense: An experienced Ohio preschool teacher shouldn’t have to spend years going back to school just because he or she moved to Michigan.

This package deserves to pass as soon as possible, and its legislative backers deserve praise for championing reform. So does Ms. Whitmer, who has previously supported licensing reform and now has a chance to show real leadership. Her record as governor may be judged on whether she reversed Michigan’s population crisis. Making it easier to find work is surely the best way to attract and keep the people our state desperately needs.

• Jarrett Skorup is vice president for marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.