Wall Street Journal reporter looks at how regulations effect job growth

Reporter Stephanie Simon with the Wall Street Journal has written an excellent article entitled "A License to Shampoo: Jobs Needing State Approval Rise" about regulation of occupations and the reasoning or lack of reasoning behind it. It's a fascinating look at what is happening around the country and is worth the read. Click on the name of the article to link to the story.

I did post the following comment on the site:

Excellent, well-research, well-balanced, well-written article. I especially liked how Stephanie Simon exposed how many actual complaints there were in an industry that proponents of regulation would have had to lie about or fail to mention to get their regulation passed. Last May, I wrote 3-part investigative report for my blog on how a national locksmith association working with one small local locksmith association attempted (and failed) to get a locksmith law passed in Florida. The point man for the local association was none other than the former president of the national association, a fact he failed to mention to lawmakers. The group exaggerated their importance and influence in the locksmith industry, over-stated the scammer problem in Florida by giving legislators a booklet of 200 “locksmith misconduct” news articles without mentioning that only 4 actual stories were from Florida and none about professional locksmiths, besmirched the character of hard-working locksmiths by not distinguishing between the professional locksmiths and the call-center owners who were dispatching scammer “locksmiths” and they did not mention what practically eliminated the scammer problem before the legislative session began. Attorney Generals around the country began using existing consumer protection laws to arrest the call-center owners. One AG reached into Florida and snatched out one of the largest owners in the country, David Peer, effectively shutting down a nationwide operation. Peer is still sitting in a jail in Missouri. So what was behind this whole locksmith legislation push (besides stifling competition), not only in Florida, but also in other states? While on one hand proponents kept screaming “consumer safety” attempting to get lawmakers to pass the bill “to protect the public,” what the other hand had done was write the legislation to include expensive and unnecessary initial and continuing education and training that, oops! the national association just happened to sell. Fortunately, we now have an anti-regulation Governor in Florida. To read the full investigative report, Google the words “Locksmith Investigator” and look for the series “Accurate Answers?” starting on May 24, 2010. Again, kudos to Stephanie Simon for a balanced and in-depth article that looked at occupational regulations and the reasoning (or lack of reasoning) behind it.