Opinion: Here’s how to make it easier for workers to find better jobs

The right to collectively bargain is one we need to protect and strengthen for workers to increase their wages and gain upward mobility. Yet, our Yet licensing also limits opportunity and geographic mobility for workers, since the requirements vary considerably from state to state. Further, workers often have to pay the upfront costs for obtaining a license and continued costs for renewing it. Since licensing serves as a barrier to entry, it can diminish employment opportunities and depress wages of unlicensed workers with similar levels of training and experience. On the flip side: Because they limit labor supply, licenses are incredibly valuable for workers who obtain them. Licensed workers typically earn higher wages than their unlicensed counterparts, and in certain cases, provide workers with guidelines around professional development and training. Licenses have also been found to reduce racial and gender wage gaps.The solution here is not to eliminate occupational licensing completely, but rather to reform laws in ways that make licenses more portable across state lines and limit licensing to fields with legitimate risks to public health and safety. Correct the information asymmetry between workers and employers Employers often know much more about workers than workers know about jobs or employers. When workers apply for jobs, they often encounter an information vacuum about wages, benefits, scheduling or workplace culture, which has real consequences for their wages and ability to advance their careers. A study from Germany found that workers earning low wages were more likely to believe that other jobs also paid low wages, even when it wasn’t the case. Having access to more information about employers and specific jobs could empower workers to apply for more open positions — or at least equip them with the information to decide whether to apply at all. At the same time, giving workers the right to withhold information such as their own salary history could give them leverage when negotiating wages. Dozens of states and cities have enacted salary history bans, leading to higher than average wage increases for women and nonwhite workers. Of course, unions are an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to worker empowerment, but not the only piece. Policymakers should support a worker’s chances to have abundant outside job offers — even when the market turns, as it inevitably will.