Nova Scotia government should eliminate needless occupational licences

In Nova Scotia, as in all other provinces, the provincial government requires some workers to obtain a licence to do their jobs. When people think of occupational licensure, they often think of a licence to practice medicine, but brain surgeons aren’t the only ones who cannot work without a licence. Bricklayers, agricultural consultants, even hairstylists must all obtain a licence before serving customers in Nova Scotia.

While there’s not much evidence that licensure protects consumers or improves safety, it does seem to raise prices and limit opportunities for work. And according to new data, occupational licensing requirements are more heavily used in Nova Scotia than most other provinces, and this hurts workers.

Specifically, among all Canadian provinces and U.S. states, Nova Scotia requires licences at the fourth-highest rate and the highest rate in Atlantic Canada. In fact, Nova Scotia requires licences in 61 of 104 job categories licensed in Canada

So, what’s the problem?

To obtain a licence for these jobs, workers must spend hundreds or even thousands of hours on often useless education requirements, take tests, pay fees and jump through other hoops. These barriers are steeper for non-native speakers, those with less education, and those with lower income and less ability to pay fees.

Not only do licence requirements restrict the freedom of individual workers, they lead to less hiring overall by raising compliance costs and reducing the supply of labour in licensed fields. Moreover, research from the United States has shown that the presence of a licence bears little connection to higher quality services in these fields. Again, it does however raise consumer prices and limit opportunities for workers.

There are many job categories where every jurisdiction in Canada and the U.S. requires a licence, including doctors, dentists, lawyers and accountants. Again, Nova Scotia’s relatively high licensing burden means many jobs are regulated here but not in other jurisdictions, and in many cases, the rationale for requiring a licence is weak.

For example, motorcycle and ATV mechanics are licensed in Nova Scotia and only two other provinces. Similarly, barbers must hold a licence in Nova Scotia and only three other provinces. Nova Scotia even requires licences for interior decorators (licensed in only one other province) and cable workers (unlicensed everywhere else in Canada).

Nova Scotia’s burden is heavier than peer jurisdictions near and far. Within the region, Nova Scotia requires licences in more job categories (again, 61) than New Brunswick (53) and Newfoundland and Labrador (43), and far more than Prince Edward Island (41). The median number of licences among all provinces is 53.

Clearly, for the sake of workers, the Houston government should eliminate needless licensing requirements. The government has taken some important steps recently by improving the ability of workers to transfer licences to and from Nova Scotia from another province. This allows the free flow of workers to where they’re most needed as determined by consumers.

All regulation imposes costs, but just because brain surgery requires a licence in Nova Scotia doesn’t mean that other occupations should. The Houston government can help workers by dropping the province’s unnecessary licensing requirements.