10 Ohio professions that require licensing: Are they needed?

It takes nearly a year of training to become a licensed barber in Ohio, but one can become an advanced emergency medical technician — with the ability to administer narcotics — in less than six weeks.

Ohio is the only state in the U.S. to license social work assistants, who are not able to do actual counseling but perform tasks such as intake assessments, screenings, record keeping and case management.

Ohio also licenses several professions that are licensed by fewer than half the states in the nation — including upholsterers, wildlife control operators and opticians.

LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

Educational requirements for occupational licenses in Ohio vary widely with barbers and cosmetologists needing far more training than EMTs, even though EMTs often encounter life and death situations. Lawmakers are looking at ways to streamline license requirements and get more Ohioans on the job more quickly.  
OccupationEducation requiredLicense fees
Veterinary technician2 year degree$335
Barber1,800 hours (45 weeks)$120
Auctioneer1 year apprenticeship$340
Cosmetologist1,500 hours (38 weeks)$51
Massage Therapist750 hours (19 weeks)*$391
Makeup Artist600 hours (15 weeks)$51
EMT150 hours (4 weeks)$80
Child care 7 hours*$296
Pharmacy TechnicianNone*$46
Truck driverNone$119
*License also requires a high school diploma  
Source: Institute for Justice "License to Work" report 

While very few people would want to get on a plane flown by a unlicensed pilot or have surgery performed by a unlicensed doctor, the necessity of having licenses for upholsterers, auctioneers or makeup artists has been questioned.

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