Regulation creates jobs

It's so obvious that stating it should be unnecessary, but clearly many people do not get this fact: increased regulation itself CREATES JOBS.

This restatement of the obvious was prompted by a CNN announcer who, in discussing whether "green investment" would create jobs a few minutes ago, said that it "would only create more regulations" -- implying that regulations create themselves, publish themselves, and are complied with by themselves.

The fact is that creation and implementation of regulations is a highly labor-intensive process -- sometimes giving rise to whole new regulatory organizations with new jobs at all levels. Once regulations are in place, ongoing compliance with them invariably creates staff positions in the organizations being regulated as well as increased reporting responsibilities in line organizations that increase labor hours.

Furthermore, these new regulatory jobs tend to be stable. You can lay off the third shift if you are not selling as many automobiles as you were, but you can't lay off the people who support the regulatory compliance processes -- or if you do, you had better get ready for big regulatory problems.

Do companies hate to pay for regulatory compliance? Of course they do! Hence business propagandists attempt to deny the societal benefits of increased regulation -- which include new and better jobs.