Can you imagine that a restaurant waiter has to apply for a license before being employed?

In fact, this license did exist, until Nov 23.

The State Council executive meeting on Nov 23 eliminated 114 more professional qualification licenses — including the restaurant waiter license — for the seventh time since 2014.

So far, the number of licenses cut is 433, accounting for over 70 percent of the total.

The act will release employees and entrepreneurs from red tape. In addition to the restaurant waiter license, licenses issued by the government included “temporary tour guide”, “toy maker” and “cleaner”. It’s clear they cause some inconvenience to market players, raising costs for job searches and business startups.

The cuts can also benefit the authorities, by saving them time and money issuing and checking the licenses. And, in some cases, issuing licenses may have created opportunities for abuse of power.

Thus, it is necessary for the government to continue to cut restrictions on the market. Premier Li Keqiang said at the executive meeting that more professional qualifications should be eliminated, and a list should be set up for essential licenses, creating a ban on items outside the list.

Apart from cutting restrictions, the Premier also stresses the need for government’s effective supervision on the process as well as follow-up supervision of the market.