Oregon Live: Braiding African American hair at center of overregulation battle in Oregon
... In the 1950s, one out of every 20 U.S. jobs required a state license. Since then, our economy has evolved from one based on manufacturing to one dominated by service professions. Today, almost 1 in 3 American occupations requires a license.
Concern about workplace over-regulation began as a fringe issue. Thanks to the recession, it's now firmly in the mainstream as more and more Americans, facing often involuntary career changes, bump into unexpected regulatory obstacles.
Progressives are joining what had been a strictly libertarian cause out of concern that excessive licensing requirements disproportionately hurt poorer Americans and newly arrived immigrants -- people who might hold down high-tech office jobs but have practical skills to contribute.
"A lot of these restrictions were put in place with good intentions, but now they actually hinder the push for sustainability," said Clark Williams-Derry, research director with the Sightline Institute, a progressive think tank in Seattle whose director recently noted in a report that getting a license to style hair in Washington takes more instructional time than becoming an emergency medical technician or a firefighter.
"Some of these laws have evolved to the point that they now protect the industry rather than the public," he said.
Traditional African braiding -- the art of weaving hair into tight snakelike rows, often with extensions or beads -- has become a common battle ground in the war over occupational licensing. Braiding is a skill many women of color learn as children and offers easy entry into the business world because so few tools are required. Braiders don't use chemicals, heat or scissors.
Yet many states require braiders to earn a cosmetology license. In Oregon, that means spending up to 1,700 hours in beauty school, where tuition can run anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. ...
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