Occupational Regulation and Foreign Qualification Recognition: An Overview

Abstract

The theory and practice of occupational regulation are outlined together with associated issues regarding foreign qualification recognition. Tradeoffs between public safety and the monopoly power inherent in occupational regulation are highlighted, together with a description of the increasing scope of occupational regulation both in terms of the numbers of occupations coming under regulation from government and the share of workers subject to those regulations. The focus is on the implications of occupational regulation for highly skilled immigrants seeking employment in the occupation in which they hold a relevant academic credential. For countries outside of the US, it is striking how little quantitative research has been conducted in the area. A better understanding is crucial since policies on and approaches to occupational regulation are evolving rapidly in part because of the increasing scale of skilled migration.

Healthcare Service in Hong Kong and its Challenges

“…By maintaining a majority in the Medical Council, the medical profession is able to self-regulate and keep its authority over the workforce. (31) Apart from medical staff shortages and approaches to remedy these, Hong Kong's healthcare system relies heavily on allied health professionals to address the population's function and mobility. A shortage of allied health professionals leaves many vacancies in both public hospitals (Hospital Authority) and NGOs (Services provided under the Department of Health).…”

“…(77) Moreover, as regulated professions they provide insiders with a degree of monopoly and exert authority over entrance requirements. (78) By reducing access to newcomers, this dominance can result in increasing prices and reducing services to clients, (79) which is not for the benefit of society. Regulation of health professions restricts the supply of labour and is a factor contributing to staff shortages in Hong Kong.…”

Is the lower return to immigrants’ foreign schooling a postarrival problem in Canada?

“…As noted by Sweetman et al (2015), there is a common perception that a deficiency in foreign qualification recognition and an excessive cost of reentry in regulated (or self-regulated) occupations following migration hinders the labor market integration of new immigrants and results in the well-documented wage penalty at the entry for newcomers (Picot and Sweetman 2012;Borjas 2013). Unlike the USA, nevertheless, this is a particular concern in Canada, which has a point system for selecting skilled (bettereducated) immigrants who would be employed in occupations that arguably face longterm labor shortage.…”

Optimal Spatial Allocation of Labour Force and Employment Protection Legislation (EPL)

“…The fact that the investment cost approaches infinity stems from barriers to free movement of workers between areas of economic integration due to legal restrictions like visas or quotas (Kahanec, 2013), lack of portability of social rights (Holzmann and Koettl, 2015;d' Addio and Cavalleri, 2015), differences in occupational regulation and difficulties for qualification recognition (Sweetman et al, 2015); but also from cultural gaps and asymmetric information problems with respect to foreign labour markets (Sprenger, 2013).…”