The Credential Cartel: How degrees replaced competence — and scarcity replaced skill

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45695799

> cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45529251
>
> >
> > 👇
> > https://curmudgeonlycanadian.substack.com/p/the-credential-cartel-how-degrees
> >
> > The Credential Cartel: How degrees replaced competence — and scarcity replaced skill
> >
> > Degrees, licences, and the hidden economics of gatekeeping, where modern work rewards credentials more than competence, and legitimacy costs years, debt, and permission
> >
> > A new essay: The Credential Cartel
> > It explores a question that has become harder to ignore: when did credentials stop being narrow tests of competence and start becoming broad mechanisms of access control?
> >
> > The piece examines:
> >
> > degree inflation
> > occupational licensing
> > labour mobility barriers
> > competency vs institutional filtering
> > the productivity costs of over-credentialing
> >
> > The core argument is not that standards should disappear. It’s that we should be more honest about what many credential requirements are actually doing — and more willing to distinguish real public protection from simple gatekeeping.
> >
> > If you work in education, hiring, workforce policy, regulated professions, or labour economics, I think you’ll find something here worth debating.
> >
> > 👇 Read Essay:
> > https://curmudgeonlycanadian.substack.com/p/the-credential-cartel-how-degrees
> >
> > 
> >
> > #Credentialism
> > #DegreeInflation
> > #LabourMarket
> > #PublicPolicy
> > #HigherEducation
> > #Gatekeeping
> > #OccupationalLicensing
> > #FutureOfWork
> > #Skills
> > #Competence
> > #LabourMobility
> > #Workforce
> > #Productivity
> > #EducationPolicy
> > #Meritocracy