What occupations require licensing?
Mia Phillips
Updated on March 28, 2026
Licensed occupations Examples of occupations licensed in many states include: teachers, land surveyors, doctors, lawyers, cosmetologists, nurses, building contractors, counselors, therapists, and electricians. To obtain a license you must demonstrate that you meet state standards for that career.
What are occupations categories?
The ISCO-08 divides jobs into 10 major groups:
- Managers.
- Professional.
- Technicians and associate professionals.
- Clerical support workers.
- Service and sales workers.
- Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers.
- Craft and related trades workers.
- Plant and machine operators, and assemblers.
What are the four types of occupations?
4 Types of Jobs: Thinkers, Builders, Improvers, and Producers
- Thinkers produce an idea.
- Builders convert the idea into reality.
- Improvers make it better.
- Producers do the work in a repeatable manner to deliver goods and services to customers.
What are occupations examples?
Occupation includes all the activities or tasks that a person performs each day. For example, getting dressed, playing a sport, taking a class, cooking a meal, getting together with friends, and working at a job are considered occupations.
What are easy certifications to get?
Easy certifications to obtain
- Information technology (IT) certifications.
- Human resources certifications.
- Language certifications.
- First aid certifications.
- Project management certifications.
- Software certifications.
- Government certifications.
- Notary public certification.
What certifications can I get without a degree?
The following positions require a certificate from programs that can be completed in six months:
- Emergency Medical Technician. National average salary: $14.65 per hour.
- Funeral director.
- Brick Mason.
- Personal trainer.
- Medical coder.
- Firefighter.
- Air traffic controller.
- Automobile service station manager.
How many different occupations are there?
Actually we have more than one List of Careers: Click here for our list of 12,000 Careers. Here is a list of careers grouped by similar occupations.
How does occupational licensing affect your job prospects?
With occupational licensing varying by state, another channel through which licensing can affect employment is through reduced mobility. The patchwork of regulations raises the cost of cross-state mobility for workers in these occupations.
What are the different types of occupational licensing?
Licensing also varies by state. Though some occupations are universally licensed, most are licensed only in certain states, with some states choosing to forego licensing restrictions. The burden of the restrictions, measured in terms of time and money, is also quite variable.
When does an occupation need to be licensed?
Nonetheless, once an occupation has these institutions, it is only a short step of legislative action away from becoming licensed—it already has all of the conditions that make it easy to lobby for and implement licensure.
What’s the difference between licensed and unlicensed occupations?
Using a “ difference-in-difference ” regression analysis, Kleiner found that partially licensed occupations had a 20 percent lower growth rate in states with licensing relative to states without licensing and relative to the difference in growth rates between these sets of states of fully licensed and fully unlicensed occupations.