Occupational regulation and its impact

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills commissioned this research to better understand the prevalence of occupational regulation across the EU and the economic costs and benefits of occupational regulation in the UK labour market.

Amy Humphris from CROME collaborated with researchers from other universities and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research from 2010-2011. This review mapped occupational regulation in the UK, produced estimates of labour market coverage as well as skills, wage and employment effects using the Labour Force Survey and provided policy recommendations.

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Watch Amy Humphris explain about her research into occupational regulation and its impacts.

Project timeframe

This research project took place between 2010 and 2011.

Project objectives

The overall aims of the research were to:

  • review the theory and evidence regarding the operation and impact of occupational regulation, with specific reference to the issue of labour mobility
  • provide estimates of the prevalence of occupational regulation in the EU and its links to labour mobility between member states
  • provide descriptive estimates of patterns of EU migration to the UK within regulated and unregulated occupations
  • attempt to assess the impact of occupational regulation on the mobility of professionals into the UK
  • explore regulatory arrangements and their impact on wages and qualifications for regulated occupations in the UK
  • assess the availability of data that can be used to estimate the effects of regulation on product and service quality.

Project findings and impact

The study produced the first evidence on the prevalence of occupational regulation in the EU and was the first to examine the link between licensing and migration in the UK. The results show that occupational regulation is an important labour market institution across the EU and reinforce the idea that it can have important effects on market outcomes such as wages and the level of qualifications. It is a labour market institution that has the potential to deter inter-state labour mobility. However, there remain many areas left to explore including:

  • distinguishing between different types of regulation when examining their prevalence in the EU labour market
  • the impact of occupational regulation on migration for other EU Member State
  • the impact of regulation on the mobility of individual occupations in the UK.

Research team

Amy Humphris

Output

Publications

Koumenta, M., Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Pagliero, M. (2014) Occupational Regulation in the EU and UK: Prevalence and Labour Market Impacts. Final report for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Bryson, A., Forth, J., Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (under preparation) Occupational Regulation in the UK: Incidence & Prevalence. Target publication: British Journal of Industrial Relations (ABS 4*).

Humphris, A. and Koumenta, M. (under preparation) Impact of Licensing on the Quality of Childcare. Target publication: Work Employment and Society (ABS 4*).

Bryson, A., Forth, J., Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (2011) A Review of Occupational Regulation and Its Impact. Report for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

Humphris, A, Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (2011) Occupational regulation in the UK and the US: Issues and policy implications, in Marsden, D. (Ed.) Employment in the Lean Years: Policy and Prospects for the Next Decade, Oxford University Press.

Conference papers

Bryson, A., Forth, J., Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (2012) The Effects of Occupational Licensing on Wages, Paper presented at the Labor and Employment Relations Association, Chicago, January.

Humphris, A. (2011) The Past, Present and Future of Occupational Regulation in the UK, Paper presented at the European Doctoral Workshop, London, September.

Bryson, A., Forth, J., Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (2011) The Product and Labour Market Outcomes of Occupational Regulation in the UK, Paper presented at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference, Madrid, June.

Humphris, A., Kleiner, M. and Koumenta, M. (2010) The Wage Effects of Occupational Licensing: Evidence from the UK, Paper presented at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, Philadelphia, June.

Partners

John Forth, Principal Research Fellow, National Institute for Economic and Social Research

Dr Alex Bryson, Head of Employment Group, National Institute for Economic & Social Research

Dr Maria Koumenta, Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Queen Mary University of London

Professor Morris Kleiner, University of Minnesota

Associate Professor Mario Pagliero, University of Turin