| Our research involved an empirical examination of the effects of occupational licensing on interstate labor migration, a case study of pharmacists. The purpose of the research was to test the hypothesis that occupational licensing restricts interstate labor migration. We tested the hypothesis using an ordinary least squares regression where the frequency of migration was related to average state pharmacist income, location-specific variables, and licensing parameters. Our results indicated that licensing does restrict the migration of pharmacists migrating either from or within the South, but that pharmacists moving either from or within the Northeast, the North Central, and the West were not affected by licensing. The importance of these results is that we have found evidence that licensing restricts migration in a profession which has had a commitment to nationwide reciprocity since the early 1900's. We expect that licensing barriers would be a more significant deterrent to migration in occupations with little or no reciprocity. |
