HomePostTopic: Occupational licensing

Occupational licensing

Georgia's favorite halloween candy is getting more expensive

Key Points

  • Candy and chewing gum prices have increased by 38% in just the last five years. These costs have even outpaced the 25% increase in grocery prices during the same period.
  • With rising costs of living, many Georgia families are struggling to cover their basic needs. This leaves them with little extra to buy fun treats like Halloween candy.
  • Georgia policymakers can help put money back into Georgians’ pockets by fixing regulations that make housing unaffordable, removing barriers to good jobs, and restructuring safety net programs to help people find rewarding work.

As Halloween approaches, Georgia families usually look forward to making great memories involving irresistibly adorable costumes and big candy hauls. Many of us know—maybe even from our own childhood experiences—that trick-or-treaters often cheer with delight when they find their favorite sweets in their candy bags.

Halloween is the season for treats. It’s the biggest day of the year for candy sales, slightly surpassing Valentine’s Day. Data on consumer purchases shows that Georgia’s favorite Halloween candies are Life Savers, Jolly Ranchers, and Trolli gummies, with M&M’s and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups following close behind.

Most of us indulge in these sweet treats every now and then, especially around Halloween. But for many Georgia families, candy is becoming hard to afford. 

Candy and chewing gum prices have increased by an astonishing 38% over the last five years. That’s even more than grocery prices, which have gone up 25% during the same period.

Halloween candy prices have gone up 38% in just the last five years.

Candy and chewing gum prices, January 2021 to July 2025

For chocolate treats in particular, recent bouts of bad weather and crop diseases have damaged cocoa trees around the world. This has led to a cocoa shortage that has driven up prices. 

High costs like these are making it difficult for some Georgians to give their children and their young neighbors the happy and memorable Halloween they’re hoping for.  

The struggle to afford life in Georgia (beyond Halloween candy)

Many low- and middle-income families in Georgia are struggling to cover the basic costs of living, as prices for just about everything seem to be rising. The increasing costs add extra hardship to the many barriers that already impact people’s well-being and their ability to afford the occasional fun extras like Halloween candy.

  • Shortage of affordable housing: At least 94 of Georgia’s 159 counties don’t have enough housing for their residents. The shortage is driving up prices and making affordable homes hard to come by. High mortgage rates, rising costs of construction materials, and a big increase in Georgia’s population since 1980 are contributing to the problem. Restrictive local regulations regarding land use and infrastructure, including roads and water lines, are making the housing shortage even more severe.

  • Barriers to work and upward mobility:About a quarter of prime age (25-54) adults aren’t working in 96 Georgia counties. Many of these Georgians are facing limited economic opportunities in their communities. And some workers feel forced to stay in low-paying jobs to remain eligible for the safety net benefits that protect their family’s well-being. These difficult situations keep people from rising out of poverty and growing their income.

Policy solutions Georgia can’t afford to ignore

Georgia lawmakers have the ability to make valuable reforms that would help people have more money in their pockets for family expenses.

  • Fewer housing regulations: To increase the supply of lower-priced houses, local leaders in Georgia need to allow greater flexibility in lot sizes in new subdivisions. They should also grant more permits for varied housing types—like duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes—and for additional homes near commercial centers. These changes would enable builders to construct more affordable homes.

  • Reduced occupational licensing requirements: Georgia policymakers have many opportunities to lower barriers to meaningful work and upward mobility, including by reducing occupational licensing requirements. These licenses are typically mandatory for certain professions. By implementing licensing reforms, lawmakers could open more doors for workers, streamlining processes and removing some of the exclusions for people who have been incarcerated.

  • Revamped welfare system: To improve Georgia’s welfare system, state lawmakers should explore a “One Door” strategy for managing safety net and workforce services. In this scenario, both benefits and job training support would be linked together in a single location. This would provide welfare recipients with a clear path back into the workforce and toward financial independence.

These vital policy changes would strengthen and stabilize Georgia families, helping to lift them above the poverty line and making it possible for them to thrive, even in the face of rising costs. Strong families, in turn, would help their communities prosper. And with more opportunities to flourish, life would be sweeter for Georgians—not just at Halloween but all throughout the year.

Additional Resources

Eliminating the Benefit Cliff and Achieving Savings for Taxpayers: A Reform Proposal for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(American Enterprise Institute)

End Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility in SNAP and Address Benefit Cliffs
(American Enterprise Institute)

State Occupational Licensing Index 2025
(Archbridge Institute)

Georgia: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

A Better Way to Get Welfare Recipients Back into the Labor Force
(City Journal)

Non-Working Adults Concentrated in Georgia’s Distressed Communities
(Georgia Center for Opportunity)

Solving the Food Assistance (SNAP) Benefits Cliff
(Georgia Center for Opportunity)

Short Supply: How Many More Homes Does Georgia Need?
(Georgia Public Policy Foundation)

SNAP Data Tables
(U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service)

Image Credit: Canva

Key Points

  • A new job licensing measure in Georgia, Senate Bill 207, was introduced in the 2025 Legislative Session to open career pathways for formerly incarcerated individuals. 
  • SB 207 focuses on simplifying and streamlining the application process for job licenses, creating a clearer and fairer system for returning citizens.
  • If passed, the bill could  expand access to steady jobs in industries like healthcare, education, real estate, and trade occupations. 

For returning citizens, stable employment can mean so much more than financial stability. It can be a powerful source of renewed purpose and belonging within their communities. In fact, research has shown that if returning citizens can keep a job for six months or more, their likelihood of ending up back in prison drops dramatically. It also improves the odds that returning citizens will reconnect with loved ones, especially their children, another step toward preventing recidivism.

That’s where Senate Bill 207 enters the picture. Introduced in Georgia’s 2025 legislative session and sponsored by Sen. Brian Strickland, the measure would create clearer guidelines for individuals with criminal records, making it easier to obtain job licenses in various industries.

The bill applies to a variety of occupations in various fields, including education, healthcare, insurance, real estate, trade occupations, and first responders.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has backed SB 207, praising the bill for how it “standardizes the process for reviewing applicants with criminal records, narrows the types of offenses licensing boards can consider, and updates first-offender treatment provisions—all while maintaining important public safety protections.”

SB 207 didn’t get the final vote it needed to pass in 2025, but lawmakers can pick it up again in 2026. 

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Key job licensing improvements in SB 207 

1. Creates a simpler process for evaluating licenses applications.

SB 207 introduces a preclearance process to streamline the evaluation of licensing applicants with criminal records. Under this process, licensing authorities must present clear evidence when rejecting applicants based on criminal convictions. The measure also mandates hearings before applicants are denied licenses due to their criminal backgrounds, setting specific criteria to guide these decisions and prioritize due process. These structures help ensure licensing boards operate with greater transparency and fairness. 

2. Shores up the predetermination process to increase fairness.

The bill creates a predetermination process that allows individuals to petition licensing boards for an early evaluation of their eligibility based on their criminal history, even before completing the necessary qualifications. Licensing boards are required to provide detailed justifications for any adverse outcomes, offering applicants the chance to appeal or present additional evidence. The changes help ground decisions in merit rather than prejudice.

3. Recognizes the hard work returning citizens have put in toward rehabilitation. 

The bill requires licensing boards to carefully evaluate the nature and seriousness of past offenses, the length of time since the incident, and the individual’s age at the time of the crime. They must also review evidence of rehabilitation, including educational achievements, work history, and community involvement. This holistic approach gives more consideration to the applicant’s growth and emphasizes their present ability to contribute to the workforce, allowing them to overcome past mistakes. 

4. Places limitations on criminal records to create more neutrality.

Finally, the bill imposes limitations on the types of criminal records that can influence licensing decisions. Sealed, pardoned, or older minor convictions are generally excluded from consideration, helping applicants avoid unnecessary penalties for issues long resolved. It also curtails the use of subjective standards, such as assessing “good moral character,” which can perpetuate bias and inconsistencies.

Georgia needs licensing reform to reduce barriers to employment

While occupational licensing serves an important purpose in certain industries, it often becomes an unnecessary barrier for individuals eager to pursue meaningful careers. These barriers hit low-income workers the hardest. Licensing fees, mandatory coursework, and unpaid apprenticeships can be insurmountable for those struggling to make ends meet or to overcome difficult circumstances, past or present. For example, someone trying to enter a trade like plumbing or electrical work might face costs of thousands of dollars before they can begin earning.

Job licensing reforms offer a way to expand job opportunities and restore people’s hope for better future. With SB 207, Georgia lawmakers have a chance to build on their recent history of reforming occupational licensure to benefit Georgians and strengthen our workforce.

occupational licensing

Key Points

  • Georgia General Assembly, lawmakers unanimously approved House Bill 155, which creates a pathway for thousands of Georgians who might face roadblocks to getting an occupational license to smooth the path for doing so, provided they held a license
  • One in four workers now need some type of occupational license
  •  H.B. 155 will help to keep our economy prosperous

As our nation continues to face a shortage of skilled and qualified workers in a variety of occupations, it’s important that state policy work to reduce as many barriers as possible to employment. Unfortunately, frequently one of those barriers is occupational licensing, which in many cases tosses up roadblocks that don’t make sense but keep good workers from entering the labor force.

Thankfully, Georgia could soon be taking a step in the right direction on this issue. In the recently concluded session of the Georgia General Assembly, lawmakers unanimously approved House Bill 155, which creates a pathway for thousands of Georgians who might face roadblocks to getting an occupational license to smooth the path for doing so, provided they held a license in good standing in their previous state of residence. By providing these licenses immediately, these new Georgia residents will be able to quickly get a job.

Georgia is still one of the fastest growing states in the country. Estimates show that over 81,000 people moved to our state in 2022—a 1.2% increase in our population. There is no indication this type of growth will slow down any time soon. Additionally, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, one in four workers now need some type of occupational license. For these reasons, H.B. 155 will help Georgia maintain its status as the nation’s best state in which to do business.

A recent study by Heather Curry and Dr. Vance Ginn looked at the positive impacts of Arizona’s “universal recognition bill – House Bill 2569 passed in 2019. Their study showed that since 2019, 6,500 people benefitted from Arizona’s universal recognition policies. While H.B. 155 is not universal—firefighters, law enforcement, medical and legal professionals are excluded—most licensed occupations are included, so we could expect thousands of new Georgians each year benefitting from the passage of this legislation.

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Reforms to occupational licensing are a key piece of the puzzle to help reinvigorate our workforce. The changes will ultimately help the individuals we are helping through BETTER WORK in Gwinnett County and Columbus—individuals who need training, wrap-around services, and opportunities for easy on-ramps into the workforce. Many of the professions that have unfair occupational licensing practices fall into this category.

The bottom line is that by allowing these Georgians to quickly get to work, H.B. 155 will help to keep our economy prosperous and our families strong. The bill currently sits on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk, awaiting his signature.

You’ve probably heard that if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day—but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. And while the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s (GCO) mission to alleviate poverty by removing barriers to human flourishing is grounded in the three core areas of family, jobs, and education, we know from years of experience that helping people secure meaningful work—teaching them to fish—is key to breaking the chains of generational poverty and building thriving communities. Work is about more than a job. It’s a key pathway to human dignity.

How did we learn this?   

In our early years—even before we changed our name to GCO—we were working closely with Neighborhood Planning Unit 5 (NPU-V) in downtown Atlanta. Here, the initial focus was on reforming the criminal justice system because nearly one-in-three men in this community had been incarcerated. 

As returning citizens most of these men were wholly unprepared to return to their communities. And with few-to-no job skills, they faced enormous challenges in finding—and holding onto—work. Not surprisingly, this set them up to return to a life of crime, with a high likelihood of going back to prison.

Given this devastating cycle of recidivism, GCO saw the need to work with community leaders, criminal reform experts, and state legislators to help former prisoners successfully re-enter society and learn how to become productive members of society. We also worked on public policy reforms to make it easier for returning citizens to obtain work:

    • Access to a driver’s license
    • Access to occupational licensing despite a felony conviction
    • Rehabilitation certification
    • Protections for employers who hire returning citizens

We modeled our approach off a sister organization in the United Kingdom called the Centre for Social Justice. Led by former Member of Parliament Iain Duncan Smith, this award-winning organization worked with gangs and achieved success with legislators to enact social welfare policy reforms to help people reach their full potential. 

And since research showed that holding a job for at least six months reduced the rate of recidivism by more than two-thirds, we developed relationships with key leaders in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government—as well as with local nonprofit, business and community leaders—to reduce recidivism by developing our ground-breaking BETTER WORK program in Gwinnett County and in Columbus.

The Success Sequence provides an outline of how to reverse the cycle of poverty in our communities. GCO uses this as a framework for much of our work.

The heart of BETTER WORK is collaborating closely with local businesses to hire ex-prisoners, offer job training and employment support, and do something good not only for the company, but the community as well. And since our first event in Atlanta in 2017—involving leading employers like Georgia Pacific, Uber and Tip Top Poultry—BETTER WORK events have expanded to other communities in Gwinnett County, Columbus, and beyond.

Beyond helping people find good jobs with employers in local communities, we continue to advocate on policy issues that keep people out of the legitimate job market, including child support challenges, relief from fees and penalties incurred while incarcerated, occupational licensing hurdles, and civil asset forfeiture.

And we continue to build coalitions of nonprofits, faith groups, and businesses to teach folks how to fish so that they are not reliant on government handouts. As always, our mission is to help people support themselves—and provide for their families in ways that break the cycle of poverty and create new trajectories that lead to individual and community transformation.

 

Get Buzz'd Blog Header

A focus on the state legislature and the policies effecting Georgian’s everyday life. 

Buzz Brockway, VP of Policy, is in downtown Atlanta at the state Capitol building, and walks us through the proposed changes to The Special Needs Scholarship, occupational licensing, a current protest, and more.

 

Get Buzz'd - at capitol - March 17 2021

Our state lawmakers create policies that better the lives of Georgians. Learn more about active legislation and how it translates into everyday life for all of us.

 

 

If You Accept this Raise, You Fall Off the Welfare Cliff

 

By Howard Baetjer, Jr

 

 

 

 

 

This article was originally posted on August 29, 2016 by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).

Getting a raise from $15 to $18 could cost you over $20,000 in net income. Would you work hard for that promotion?

Pretend you are a poor, single parent of two in Chicago, earning $12 an hour, working full time, and determined to do what is best for your family. And suppose your employer, impressed with your work, offers you training for and promotion to a new job paying $15. Should you take the offer?

It sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not.

At your present $12 an hour you are eligible for refundable tax credits, food assistance, housing assistance, child care assistance, and medical assistance worth $41,465 combined. Together with your earned income after taxes of $22,121, you are now bringing home to your kids about $63,586 a year.

If you take your employer’s offer, you’ll earn $5,451 more after taxes, $27,572. You will also become eligible for an Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credit. But at that level of earned income all your other benefits would decrease by $8,336, more than your increase in net pay. That means the income you would bring home would decrease from $63,586 to $60,701.

Now, would you take your employer’s offer? What would be best for you and your family, a move up the job ladder with a loss of $2885 in income? Or staying in your same job and keeping the larger income?

The Low-Wage Trap

This example, which is taken from a fascinating, and appalling study by the Illinois Policy Instituteentitled “Modeling Potential Income and Welfare Assistance Benefits in Illinois,” illustrates with clear charts and tables what is known as “welfare cliffs” or the “low wage trap,” which can trap families in poverty. When earning more means taking home less, the disincentive to work is obvious. The report provides striking visual representations of the “welfare cliffs” that poor people’s total incomes can fall off as they increase their earned incomes. Here is the chart on which the hypothetical above is based (the particular numbers in our example come from tables in the report, which clarify the visual data in the charts.)

Notice that welfare cliff we considered above, which occurs between $12 an hour and $15 an hour, is relatively small. A bigger one (and the reason I call the report “appalling”) occurs between $15 an hour and $18 an hour.

An Unaffordable Raise?

To pick up our thought experiment, let’s suppose that you want to get free of welfare eventually, and you know that moving up the job ladder is key to doing so, so you take your employer’s offer of a raise to $15 an hour and the corresponding loss of $2,885 in annual income. You cut back on spending where you can and look to the future. Now suppose further that you do well in your new job, you boost your knowledge and skills, and your employer offers you another promotion, with still more training and a raise to $18 an hour. Should you take it? Can you afford to take it?

At $18 an hour full time you would earn gross income of $37,440, and net income (after taxes) of $33,023. But earned income that high would reduce your refundable tax credit and ACA premium assistance, and eliminate your cash assistance, food assistance, housing assistance, and child care assistance, for a total reduction in government benefits of $26,820. So if you take the promotion and raise, your income would decrease from $60,701 to $39,332! A case could be made that it is irresponsible for you to reduce your family’s income that way.

Just think what that kind of welfare cliff does to the incentive to work (“on the books,” at least) and thereby to get off welfare. And the problem is not restricted to Chicago; the same kind of problem exists all across the country.

One of the tragedies of America today is that so many adults of sound mind and body do not support themselves and their families. It’s a tragedy not because they suffer material want; indeed, relatively few suffer so, because government assistance satisfies many of their material needs. It’s tragic because one of the keys to human happiness is earned self-respect, which requires, as Charles Murray has written, making one’s own way in the world. The vast majority of poor people don’t want welfare; they don’t want handouts; they want a good job with which they can support themselves and their families comfortably. The tragedy of the American welfare system is that it traps so many people in dependency on government, by hindering them from getting on and climbing up the job ladder, and thereby earning self-respect and happiness.

Welfare cliffs are of course not the only reason so many capable Americans languish in partial dependency on government assistance. Dreadful government schools in poor areas and systematic obstacles to getting a job, such as minimum wage laws and occupational licensing laws, are also to blame. But the perverse incentives of America’s welfare system really hurt.

 
Howard Baetjer Jr. is a lecturer in the department of economics at Towson University and a faculty member for seminars of the Institute for Humane Studies. He is the author of Free Our Markets: A Citizens’ Guide to Essential Economics.

DISINCENTIVES FOR WORK AND MARRIAGE IN GEORGIA’S WELFARE SYSTEM

Based on the most recent 2015 data, this report provides an in-depth look at the welfare cliffs across the state of Georgia. A computer model was created to demonstrate how welfare programs, alone or in combination with other programs, create multiple welfare cliffs for recipients that punish work. In addition to covering a dozen programs – more than any previous model – the tool used to produce the following report allows users to see how the welfare cliff affects individuals and families with very specific characteristics, including the age and sex of the parent, number of children, age of children, income, and other variables. Welfare reform conversations often lack a complete understanding of just how means-tested programs actually inflict harm on some of the neediest within our state’s communities.

DOWNLOAD WHITE PAPER

DOWNLOAD EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

VISIT WELFARECLIFF.ORG

Gov. Kemp signs bill into law expanding job opportunities for military spouses

 

 

By David Bass

 

With our state experiencing a 7.6% unemployment rate in June (the most recent numbers available), it’s clear that every Georgian needs all the help possible to find and maintain stable employment. That’s why the Georgia Center for Opportunity team was excited to see Gov. Brian Kemp sign a new bill into law (HB914) that knocks down a significant barrier to employment for new Georgia residents.

 

The new law provides a temporary occupational license to spouses of members of the armed services who move to Georgia. Georgia has the 5th largest number of military, civilian direct-hire, reserve, and national guard employees in the U.S. Spouses of these employees will now have a greater opportunity to obtain employment in the career of their choice.

 

“Particularly in the COVID-19 era, breaking down barriers to employment is more important than ever,” said Buzz Brockway, vice president of public policy at Georgia Center for Opportunity. “Restrictions on occupational licensing can be an enormous one of these barriers. It’s the least we can do for our men and women in uniform to ensure that their spouses have the ability to work in their area of expertise in our state.”

 

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