Occupational Licensing in New Hampshire

What is Occupational Licensing?

An occupational or professional license is a permit issued by the government that lets someone work in a particular field. In New Hampshire, one out of every six workers must now get an occupational license before they can legally do their jobs. But many licenses don’t even improve service quality or protect the public from actual harm.

Licenses Create Barriers to Working in New Hampshire

occupational licenses often impose high barriers to entry. That makes it much harder for people to find work or to start a new business. According to the Institute for Justice’s report, License to Work, the average license for low- and moderate-income jobs in New Hampshire takes 326 days of education and experience. And those required classes can be very expensive.  

For instance, cosmetology is one of the state’s most popular licenses. In New Hampshire, it takes at least 1,500 hours of classes to get a license in cosmetology. On average, a cosmetology program in the state costs $19,413, while the average student takes out $7,166 in federal student loans. But despite such a hefty investment, many cosmetologists barely earn enough to get by: Half of New Hampshire cosmetologists make less than $23,670 a year. 

All told, the state’s licensing requirements come with heavy costs. A separate study by IJ, At What Cost?, estimated that occupational licensing costs the state’s economy $818 million and leads to 8,000 fewer jobs each year. 

Recent Licensing Reforms in New Hampshire 

Working with the Institute for Justice, New Hampshire lawmakers exempted natural hair braiders from the state’s cosmetology licensing and eliminated many licensing barriers for ex-offenders. The state also enacted universal license recognition, which lets out-of-state workers work without having to obtain a duplicate license from New Hampshire boards. 

Can You Get a License to Work with a Criminal Record in New Hampshire? 

New Hampshire has some of the best protections for ex-offenders who want to work in a licensed field, receiving an A- in IJ’s Barred from Working report. Licensing boards can only disqualify applicants who have been convicted of a crime that has a “substantial and direct relationship to the occupation” and must consider whether an applicant has been rehabilitated. Boards must also offer a predetermination process that would let applicants find out if their criminal record would disqualify them, before they invest in any classes or training. New Hampshire bans boards from using arrest or annulled records to deny licenses.  

How You Can Help

If you are a New Hampshire resident and you want to help fight against these unfair and unnecessary licensing laws, there are a few ways you can get involved. You can donate to the Institute for Justice, sign up for our email updates, and share our message with your network. Together, we can make sure that all New Hampshire workers have the economic liberty they deserve.