Liberals are slowly discovering that the regulatory state they helped create undermines job creation and income growth, in particular for the least skilled and educated workers. This epiphany is overdue, but progress is progress if a left-right reform coalition emerges for more open labor markets.

The particular target is occupational licensing mandates, whose damage has caught the attention of the White House. Last month the Treasury and President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers put out a report that looked at employment...