Analysing the extent and effects of occupational regulation in New Zealand

A new paper, by Simon James Greenwood and Andrea Kutinova Menclova, has been published online for New Zealand Economic Papers on the above topic.

The abstract reads,

This study is the first to our knowledge to document the extent and correlates of occupational regulation in New Zealand. Using data from the Census and the Survey of Working Life, we estimate that 28% of workers’ primary jobs are affected by occupational regulation. This is lower than the 35% reported for the US but identical to UK estimates of 28%. Furthermore, we find that holding observable factors constant, occupational regulation is associated with a wage premium of 5%. This is lower than the 18% licensing premium found for the US but within the range of estimates for the UK.

I would love to see evidence on the distribution of the wage premium since I'm sure there are groups out there getting a hell of a lot more than a 5% premium! The other side of this coin is that there must be groups for whom occupational regulation results in little of the way of a premium. Does the form of regulation play a role here?