This paper investigates the effect of occupational licensing regulation on the
representation of minority (female and black) workers in a range of skilled and semiskilled
occupations representing 12 percent of the civilian labor force. We take advantage
of a natural experiment afforded by the introduction of state-level licensing regulation
during the late nineteenth and to mid twentieth centuries to identify the effects of
licensing on minority representation. We find that licensing laws seldom harmed minority
workers. In fact, licensing sometimes helped minorities, particularly in occupations
where information about worker quality was difficult to ascertain.