Florida

Florida is one of the worst states in the nation for occupational licensing. It licenses 56 of the 102 lower-income occupations studied here, and its licensing laws rank as the fifth most burdensome. On average, they require $318 in fees, 693 days of education and experience, and around one exam. Because it licenses fewer occupations than states with similarly high burdens, Florida ranks as the 21st most widely and onerously licensed state.

Florida is one of only four states that license interior designers—the most arduously licensed occupation in this study. Aspiring interior designers must complete six years (2,190 days) of education, pay $1,120 in fees and pass one exam to perform commercial work in Florida. Such heavy burdens seem incongruent given that 47 other states do not license interior designers at all.

Florida also licenses several occupations more severely than it does others that may present greater risk to the public. For example, the education requirements to become a barber or cosmetologist are over 10 times higher than those to become an EMT (1,200 hours versus 110 hours, or roughly 280 days versus roughly 26 days). Florida could create more avenues to employment in the state by reducing or repealing its illogical requirements for lower-income occupations, or—if government regulation is necessary—by replacing them with less restrictive regulatory alternatives.