Pepperberry1d ago

A new essay: The Credential Cartel.
It’s about degree inflation, licensing barriers, and how credentials increasingly function as gatekeeping devices rather than narrow tests of competence. The core question is simple: when a requirement is defended as necessary, is it actually protecting the public — or mostly protecting access?

https://curmudgeonlycanadian.substack.com/p/the-credential-cartel-how-degrees

#Credentialism
#DegreeInflation
#PublicPolicy
#Gatekeeping
#OccupationalLicensing
#Skills
#Competence
#LabourMobility
#Workforce
#Meritocracy

Show threadPepperberry

Degrees once measured competence. Now they often measure access.
Paper first. Skill second.
When credentials become toll booths
The labour market’s paperwork arms race
Scarcity disguised as standards
What if the gate is the story?
When legitimacy costs years and debt
The hidden economics of gatekeeping
👇
https://curmudgeonlycanadian.substack.com/p/the-credential-cartel-how-degrees

#LabourMarket
#HigherEducation
#Gatekeeping
#OccupationalLicensing
#FutureOfWork
#Competence
#LabourMobility
#Workforce
#Productivity
#EducationPolicy
#Meritocracy

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

Curmudgeonly Canadian
Apr 13 at 1:20amWeb