Posted on 07/21/2016 5:02:47 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Which profession requires upwards of $10,000 in education costs, over $200 in state fees, and 1,800 hours of training to enter: emergency medical technician (EMT) or barber?
The correct answer is barber.
In terms of time and cost, a prospective EMT can obtain an occupational license, required by the state of Michigan, much more easily than a prospective barber. For example, Baker College’s EMT certification program costs $6,600 and takes six months to complete. Completing a barber certification program in Michigan takes two years.
This example is not to criticize EMTs or question their ability to do their job but to praise the fact that their certification burden is less. Shorter and simpler requirements are better for EMTs and patients. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the EMT profession will grow 24 percent from 2014 to 2024, while the barber profession will grow 10 percent. Simplifying the certification processes will allow people to become EMTs more quickly and meet the growing demand.
In a 2012 study, the Institute for Justice looked at licensing requirements. In Michigan, the burden to obtain a barber’s license was the 9th-greatest of the 42 occupations studied, while the EMT's burden ranked 22nd. IJ also reported that an average of 26 days of education is necessary for an EMT’s license but a barber's license requires 467.
Simplified licensing procedures do not correlate with unprofessional behavior among EMTs. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, since 2010, only one EMT was reported for breaking protocol. Furthermore, a shorter certification process need not lead to poorly trained EMTs. As with most careers, much of an EMT's training takes place on the job and through continuing education courses.
Occupational licenses disproportionally harm the poor. Although most middle-class individuals could pay at least $10,000 to get a barber’s license, people with lower incomes cannot afford these costs, so they are not able to become licensed. Minority workers are also more affected.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, barbers earned a median salary of $23,710 in 2015, or $11.40 an hour. EMTs in 2015 earned a median salary of $31,980, or $15.38 an hour.
Proponents of occupational licenses usually say they safeguard public health. In reality, licenses burden low and middle-income families, while providing negligible benefits to the public. An EMT’s job is certainly health-related, but a barber’s job does not require government involvement. And no evidence shows that adding more requirements to the EMT license, or the state's requirements for the barber, protects the public.
Michigan should remove occupational licenses that are not shown to protect public health and safety. The state's rules for barbers, manicurists, cosmetologists, and other lines of work are overly broad and do not serve consumers.
LOL. You should see what it costs to be a doctor.
These “Licenses” were established for one reason only, To suppress competition”.
Barbering is way cheaper than getting into heating and cooling systems.
Competency testing would be more valuable, but then government would not appreciate the loss of taxes, which are fees. I’ve had supposedly trained Med techs who can’t judge the size of veins and blow or miss them.
Neighbor just had brakes put on car, they used faulty crap and forgot 1 pad or it fell off, his disc drums are now ruined this is on a Vintage VETT.
This is serious and goes beyond barbering. The bureaucracy, requiring uneeded formal and costly training to enter so many trades is doing great harm. Go find a shoemaker, tailor, dressmaker, carpenter or members of other vanishing trades.
I’m a watchmaker, fourth generation, but in a trade rapidly vanishing. Put at the bench at age 10, and trained by a father and uncle through Junior High, High school, and two years of Junior College. Three young classmates were apprenticed to their uncles and became watchmakers. Other youngsters became plumbers, carpenters, shoemakers, tailors and many other trades, taught ON THE JOB by professionals.
Through that system, carried forth for two hundred years, people everywhere could easily find the needed skills and services that keep society going.
Now, in my trade, I have people driving 50 or more miles to find me. People wait for a plumber as the water in the cellar rises.
Graduates of TECHNICAL High Scools get their diploma on a Saturday and report Monday for an ADULT professional job.
College graduates, deeply in debt, receive a useless degree and on Monday start a fruitless hunt for a job, ANY job at all.
Something is definitely out of whack.
Nice to know that you can still be incompetent and do HVAC. The last three houses I lived in had HVAC problems that even I, a non-engineer, and non-certified HVAC tech, could figure out. Not a one was done right. Uneven air-flow, cold-air returns not sufficient, underpowered, overpowered and inefficient. No refrigerant.
Haven't had my caffeine yet.
These fees are what Adam Smith called rent seeking. They are lobbied for to prevent others from entering the progression.
Hmmm, earlier this week, I talking to a girl that had just completed all her hairdressing requirements while doing a 5 stretch for bank robbery.
That’s about the only way most people find the time to go through all the required “training”.
The point of the article, I think, is how this hurts the poor and working-class and keeps them out of employment opportunities. We’ve known for years that the education of a doctor is expensive. Barbers? Not so much.
Not just education. Yearly state licensing, annual association fees which are required for boards which also take a bite, CME requirements to maintain licensing and association membership which are required for insurance which is required for licensing and credentialling. Even for low risk primary care it can add up to over $15,000 a year. Multiples of that for Ortho or Neurosurgery. That comes out before a penny is spent on office, nurses, etc. one must spend $150,000 to $200,000 a year before a penny is made. And remember, what the doctor takes home is what is left after the bills and taxes are paid. If you start a new practice you may not see a penny for a year or two.
Unbelievable. I’m going to culinary school right now. I don’t know if I’ll go into business and this thread is pretty discouraging!
We need to go back to apprenticeships.
A young person should be able to earn a modest living while learning a trade.
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