You’ve spent months putting together a business plan. You know your market, you know your pricing, and you know who you want to hire. But the person you want to bring on board is only licensed in Massachusetts, and that getting a New Hampshire license, for even a low-wage position, requires a significant outlay of time and money for additional training hours. That’s not a hypothetical, that’s the reality a lot of Granite State business owners face.
New Hampshire’s occupational licensing system has been a source of contention for some time, and the scrutiny is accelerating. The state’s own legislature is actively debating how much licensing is too much and whether current requirements actually improve safety to a degree that justifies the burden on the licensee.
The Purpose of Occupational Licensing
An occupational license is a government-issued permit that allows someone legally work in a particular field. The idea behind it is sensible: if you’re performing work that could hurt someone, requiring a baseline standard of competence protects the public. In fields such as medicine, law, architecture, or finance, the rationale is clear – lives and livelihoods are on the line if these professions fail to perform to a standard.
The issue in some states is that the burden of state-level licensing has expanded beyond the balance needed to protect the public. According to the Institute for Justice, the average license for a low- or moderate-income job in New Hampshire requires 326 days of education and experience.1 The state licenses roughly one out of every six workers. That’s approximately 220,000 active licenses in a workforce of around 750,000 people.2
And licensing costs money. A separate Institute for Justice analysis estimated that New Hampshire’s licensing requirements cost the state’s economy $818 million per year and result in roughly 8,000 fewer jobs annually.3 Those aren’t abstract numbers. They represent workers who couldn’t afford the training, businesses that couldn’t fill positions, and consumers who paid more because competition was limited by design.
The Case for Reform
The criticism of New Hampshire’s licensing system isn’t coming from one political direction, but from libertarian economists, progressive equity advocates, and pragmatic business groups, who otherwise agree on very little.
The core argument is simple. Cosmetology is one of New Hampshire’s most popular licenses. Until recently, the state required 1,500 hours of training to become licensed, more hours than many EMT programs require.4 The average cosmetology program cost $19,413. Half of New Hampshire cosmetologists earn less than $23,670 a year. That math doesn’t work, and it means a lot of people who would otherwise enter the field simply don’t.
2025 legislature reduced the cosmetology requirement to 1,200 hours in a bipartisan vote, but critics say that’s a modest adjustment when the structural problem is much larger. Research from West Virginia University found that licensing laws in New Hampshire specifically reduced economic mobility and increased income inequality, particularly for workers without college degrees.5
Rep. Carol McGuire, who has worked on licensing reform since 2009, put it plainly: most new license requirements don’t come from public safety advocates. They come from professionals already in the field who want to limit competition. Requiring a master’s degree where a bachelor’s once sufficed, or adding thousands of hours of training, raises the floor for entry and keeps prices higher for everyone.6
For small business owners, the downstream effect is direct. A smaller pool of licensed workers means you’re competing harder for the people you can legally hire. Universal license recognition, which New Hampshire enacted in 2023, helps somewhat: if someone is licensed in good standing in another state, they can now work in New Hampshire without starting over.7 But that reform only reaches as far as the licenses that still exist.
The Case Against Wholesale Elimination
The reform debate gets more complicated when you get past cosmetology and into fields where the public safety argument is more substantial.
In 2023, then-Governor Sununu proposed eliminating 34 different licenses and 14 regulatory boards. The list included licensed nursing assistants, medical imaging technicians, court reporters, wetland scientists, landscape architects, and mental health professionals. Lawmakers from both parties ultimately blocked most of those cuts, maintaining 31 of the 34 proposed eliminations.8
The opposition wasn’t just protectionism. Landscape architects, for instance, argued that their work involves managing water runoff, erosion control, and slope stabilization, not planting rosebushes. Court reporters pointed out that their role in producing verbatim transcripts of legal proceedings carries ethical obligations around confidentiality that a license enforces.
What This Means If You’re Starting or Growing a Business in New Hampshire
If you’re building a team in New Hampshire, here’s what matters practically.
Reciprocal license recognition, enacted under HB 596, means you can hire qualified workers who are licensed in other states with substantially similar licensing requirements, and get them licensed in New Hampshire through an expedidited and streamlined process. That’s a real advantage when you’re trying to fill a position quickly. Confirm that the specific license type the candidate holds is covered, because the recognition isn’t automatic for every category or for every state.
If you’re opening a business in a licensed field, particularly in health services, personal care, or professional services, the regulatory landscape is still changing. Some boards are consolidating. Some licensing requirements are being reviewed. Before you build your business model around a specific staffing structure, confirm the current requirements with the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification.
The best thing you can do right now is stay current. Know which licenses your business requires and which have recently changed. Understand what universal recognition means for your hiring. And if you’re in a field where the licensing rules are actively under legislative review, stay ahead of changes that may be coming, so you can keep your business running without missing a beat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does New Hampshire recognize occupational licenses from other states?
Yes. New Hampshire enacted universal license recognition in 2023. If you hold a substantially similar license in good standing in another state, you can work in New Hampshire without going through the full New Hampshire licensing process again. Confirm that your specific license category is covered, as the law applies broadly but not identically to every occupation.
Is it legal to work in New Hampshire without an occupational license if your field requires one?
No. Working in a licensed field without a required license in New Hampshire is a violation of state law and can result in fines, cease-and-desist orders, and civil liability. If you’re uncertain whether your occupation requires a license, the New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification maintains a current list of covered professions.
What happened to Governor Sununu’s proposal to eliminate 34 occupational licenses?
The proposal was substantially scaled back in the legislative process. Lawmakers maintained 31 of the 34 licenses Sununu proposed eliminating, citing opposition from professional groups and concerns about public safety in fields like health care, environmental science, and legal services. Three licenses were eliminated: those for athlete agents, hawkers and peddlers, and itinerant vendors. Universal license recognition and OPLC infrastructure modernization were enacted as separate reforms.
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- Institute for Justice, License to Work: A National Study of Burdens from Occupational Licensing, 3d ed. (2023), New Hampshire state profile, https://ij.org/issues/economic-liberty/occupational-licensing/new-hampshire/. ↩
- Dee Jurius, Executive Director, New Hampshire Office of Professional Licensure and Certification, as quoted in Michael Graham, NH Journal, “Out of Control: Panel Says Occupational Licensing Blocks Economic Opportunity” (2026), noting approximately 220,000 active licenses in a workforce of 750,000. ↩
- Institute for Justice, At What Cost? Occupational Licensing and the High Cost of Entry (estimating $818 million economic cost and 8,000 fewer jobs annually attributable to New Hampshire’s licensing requirements), available at https://ij.org/report/at-what-cost/. ↩
- Michael Graham, “Out of Control: Panel Says Occupational Licensing Blocks Economic Opportunity,” NH Journal (2026) (describing 1,500-hour cosmetology requirement, subsequently reduced to 1,200 hours by bipartisan legislative action, and noting the disparity with EMT training requirements). ↩
- Edward Timmons et al., “Assessing Growth in Occupational Licensing of Low-Income Occupations: 1993-2012,” Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy 7, no. 2 (2018): 178-218 (finding licensing laws reduced economic mobility and increased income inequality for low-income workers); see also Conor Norris, Testimony before New Hampshire House Executive Departments and Administration Committee on HB 644, Knee Regulatory Research Center, West Virginia University (March 13, 2024), https://knee.wvu.edu/legislation/legislative-testimonies/2025/09/25/new-hampshire-house-executive-departments-and-administration-committee-norris. ↩
- Rep. Carol McGuire (R-Epsom), as quoted in Michael Graham, NH Journal, “Out of Control: Panel Says Occupational Licensing Blocks Economic Opportunity” (2026). ↩
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 332-G:10 to :14 (2023) (establishing universal license recognition for out-of-state licensed professionals holding a substantially similar license in good standing). ↩
- Phil Hayward and Claire Sullivan, “Sununu’s Sweeping Licensing Overhaul Could Fail with Both Parties,” New Hampshire Bulletin (March 28, 2023) (reporting that House budget writers moved to maintain 31 of 34 proposed license eliminations). ↩
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