This is a good point to mention that a modest attempt has been made to measure destructive interference by the government in the labor market.
The Wall Street Journal on July 28 had an article by Mellor and Carpenter who looked at occupational licensing requirements for the hundred occupations below median income. The article is long and the conclusions are shocking.
The licensing requirements for ooccupations from TV installers, to animal handlers, to florists, to tourist guides and manicurists are growing rapidly... are growing explosively.
Guess who suffers the most from occupational licensing expansion? People who don’t have college degrees. Black and Latino minorities.
If there is any operating hypothesis among the conservative community it is that government has always created barriers to business. Taxes and licensing.
I know that governments are almost always anti-commerce especially Lefty urban governments. This is a case where the people being punished are perversely the Lefty supporters.