Tingting Zhang

My name is Tingting Zhang. I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

My research interest focuses on both industrial and employment relations. Within industrial relations, I focus on the role of social media communication in labor movements and union renewal. I am also working on how labor unions respond to workplace changes in the context of the future of work. In employment relations and human resource management, I am interested in various training and development mechanisms both within and outside organizations, such as occupational regulation and the emergence of non-degree credentials, shape individuals’ career outcomes, especially marginalized groups such as women and immigrants.

Selected Work

What the US and EU can Learn from China’s Occupational Licensing ReformWhat the US and EU can Learn from China’s Occupational Licensing Reform Tingting Zhang, 12 Mengjie Lyu, 1 and Edward Timmons 2 1: School of Labor […]

Co-authored Op-Ed on occupational regulation policy development in China

Published by the Knee Center for the Study of Occupational Regulation, July 2021

Regulation has costs and benefits, and it is important to use the appropriate regulatory tool to accomplish the desired objective. Occupational licensing is the most stringent regulation and it should not be the default solution and should only be used if absolutely necessary.
Regulations should be designed to limit uncertainty and disruption in communication between workers and firms. Chinese policy makers recognized that employers in many cases were best positioned to evaluate the skills of prospective job seekers and could shoulder the responsibility of evaluating skills. In some cases, more stringent regulation was necessary, but not in all cases.
The regulatory framework should be appropriately constructed to rightly balance the need for consumer protection without imposing unnecessary costs.

Co-authored the section about Canadian occupational entry regulations (OER) metrics using the new OECD measure

Published by the Economics Department at the OECD, January 2020

► The average regulatory stringency is significantly lower in personal services than in professional services.

► Mobility restrictions are sometimes high even for professionals moving between states in the US, provinces in Canada, or countries in Europe. This is surprising given the various policy initiatives aimed at facilitating the movement of professionals within these economic areas.

► The regulatory variance of personal services amid European countries, US states, and Canadian provinces is wide, suggesting the need for better integration of services in all three economic areas.

► Occupational regulations typically take the form of licensing requirements, the most stringent form of regulations. Only very few countries, most of which are in Europe, allow for alternative schemes, including certification.

Occupational entry regulations (OER) and their effects on productivity in services - OECD

Licence to Capture: The Cost Consequences to Consumers of Occupational Regulation in Canada

Co-authored white paper on the impact of occupational licensing on consumers in Canada

Published by C.D. Howe Institute, July 2020

A trend toward increased occupational licensing in Canada drives up costs for consumers and inhibits competition.

Authors Robert Mysicka, Lucas Cutler and Tingting Zhang explore how a growing number of occupations in Canada require members to be licensed or otherwise regulated and how, in many cases, the added costs consumers pay for regulated services outweigh the benefits.

“Our objection is to regulations that have the primary effect of limiting competition or reducing market entry with no demonstrable benefit to consumers,” the report reads. “The objective for policymakers is to balance the interests of consumer protection with the virtues of a dynamic, competitive marketplace.”

Co-authored Op-ed piece on how occupational licensing regulations should be more adjusted as a COVID-19 response

Published on Canadian Law of Work Forum, March 2020

There is general agreement in the economics literature that the licensing requirements are overly restrictive and that relaxing them somewhat would not jeopardize the general public. Empirical evidence in countries, such as United States, Canada, and the European Union, strongly suggests that relaxing some of the restrictions on occupational licensing would not adversely affect patients. This would be true in general, but it is even more true in pandemics such as COVID-19 where the lack of staff and the overworking of existing staff who are putting their own health at risk, can jeopardize the response to such a crisis. To their credit, professional regulatory bodies are providing many of these responses, as indicated in their websites. Nevertheless, their responses are not uniform or complete across the different jurisdictions. Health care professionals are putting their own lives at risk. Reducing that burden through relaxing restrictions in occupational licensing would be in their interest and in the interest of the general public.

Relaxing Restrictions on Occupational Licensing as a Response to COVID-19

Get in touch at zhangt@illinois.edu

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