Whether you're a doctor, an electrician, a teacher, a cab driver, a hair stylist—even a tour guide!—the government increasingly demands that you get a license before you are allowed to work in your chosen profession. In the 1950s, only about one in 20 workers needed the government's blessing to do their jobs. Today, that figure is more than one in three.

Produced by Naomi Brockwell. Edited by Joshua Swain.