If you receive a felony, it’s like a life sentence that hangs with you for the rest of your life, making re-employment difficult, if not impossible. This disparity is even greater for immigrants, who often face language barriers and discrimination in the job market, where the hurdles to finding work are even higher. Statistics show that criminal aliens – illegal immigrants who engage in other criminal acts – account for more than one in five federal prison inmates, even though empirical studies have found no link between violent crime and immigration.
Nearly one-third of the U.S. population—around 100 million Americans—possesses a criminal record.
Unfortunately, formerly incarcerated persons (FIPs) face unique and taxing challenges when they try to earn a living after incarceration. According to the Center for American Progress, nearly 9 in 10 employers use background checks in hiring, and those who are able to find employment earn around 40% less than the general population.
Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, FIPs in the U.S. faced a 27 percent unemployment rate—nearly five times higher than the unemployment rate of the general public. Though no official reports have been released, this rate has likely only gotten worse since the pandemic hit, where overall unemployment in the U.S. skyrocketed to unprecedented levels.
With a staggering number of over 600,000 people being released from prisons each year, piled on top of a still recovering economy, it is more important than ever to consider the issue of unemployment within the FIP community. The barriers to employment in the labor market are numerous, and these obstacles make it hard for FIPs to support themselves and their families and contribute to the negative cycle of incarceration. This article will outline some factors that limit both employment and earnings among FIPs, from both a supply and demand perspective.
Operating on the supply side of the labor market are factors that focus on the attitudes, characteristics and behaviors of the individuals themselves. For one, many FIPs possess limited education: less than 4 percent of formerly incarcerated people have a college degree. On top of lack of education, the (often multiple) periods of time these individuals have spent incarcerated prevent them from gaining any additional work experience, and no doubt erode whatever job skills or connections to employers they might have had beforehand. In addition, most FIPs are minorities—nearly half are African-American, and nearly a fifth are Latino or Asian. To the extent that minorities continue to suffer labor market discrimination as a result of race, ethnicity, gender, and so on, this will further impede the ability of FIPs to gain employment in the American labor market.
From the demand side of the story, we analyze the attitudes and behaviors of employers, and the characteristics of jobs they seek to fill. There is often a mismatch between the limited set of opportunities available to FIPs and the skills that employers are looking for within the labor market. Employees often assume the worst when they see applicants with criminal records, even though the overwhelming majority of those incarcerated serve time for non-violent crimes. Even in jobs where very little formal skill is required, basic “job readiness” is almost universally sought after, and FIPs are greatly disadvantaged in this regard. Notwithstanding labor market discrimination and structural racism, minority FIP populations will undoubtedly face serious challenges in their job search after incarceration.
“Many jobs have a CORI requirement,” said Ted, a Job Training Program Director. . “This piece of the hiring process scares the prospective employee. It is a shame when there is no wiggle room with the results. Many of my students have CORI’s and they end up being great workers as they welcome the second chance.”
The fact that FIPs have the added disadvantage of possessing a criminal record limits the options available to them, feeding into a negative feedback loop of unemployment and perhaps even recidivism.. There are certain occupations that are legally closed to individuals with criminal records, and in many states employers are reluctant to hire because they can be held liable for the criminal actions of their employees under the theory of negligent hiring. While efforts like getting rid of background checks in screening processes could work to reduce statistical discrimination, studies have shown that this has mixed effectiveness and occasionally might backfire, like the “Ban the Box” efforts.
Aden, a Student Success Coordinator remarks that “having a CORI issue can hurt a person’s employability and consequently, their financial and personal stability. Many workplaces, sometimes entire industries screen out applicants with CORIs. It’s important that when a person with a CORI re-enters the workforce, that they receive hands-on and ongoing support.”
Despite many difficulties, there are solutions that can help to reduce the burden of unemployment for incarcerated individuals. For one, second-chance hiring involves offering more employment opportunities to individuals with a criminal record. This can include partnering with local employers to create job opportunities, providing job training, education programs, and resources to help individuals transition back into the workforce. For example, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers has worked to expand regional and local re-entry support programs to help provide vocational training to in-prison facilities, and acknowledge that tapping into the FIPs population will significantly diversify the manufacturing workforce.
Further, we can consider providing tax incentives to businesses that participate in second-chance hiring to encourage more employers to give FIPs a fairer chance. Economist Laura Ullrich of the Federal Reserve of Richmond has expressed in a January interview with ABC News that engaging broader populations of workers, including FIPs, could work to help reduce inflation, and especially aid local businesses in filling jobs in critical area jobs. In addition, there are many who are attracted to the idea of starting a business post incarceration. According to a Forbes article, over 3.8% of small business owners in the U.S. have criminal records, amounting to more than one million small business owners. For those who are interested in these options, there are many resources, such as grants and small business financing, that can help them achieve their goals.
A variety of efforts can also be undertaken by policymakers to reduce the labor market barriers that FIPs face, thereby improving their employment and earnings opportunities. Such efforts might include reviewing legal barriers to employment of FIPs, regulating the accessibility of public information on criminal history, and providing greater funding for the efforts of intermediary agencies to link recently released offenders with the labor market. Further, policymakers can consider expanding funding and outreach efforts for bonds or tax credits to employers who hire FIPs, in addition to providing financial incentives for FIPs to accept and retain low-wage employment, for example the Earned Income Tax Credit.
States like Massachusetts offer many resources for incorporating FIPs back into the workforce. For example, the Massachusetts Parole Board operates re-entry centers across the state that help inmates make the transition to the community by helping FIPs find food assistance, obtain state IDs, and find work and couseling. Federal efforts are in force as well: more than two dozen members of Congress have banded together this month to create a new bipartisan task force focused on aiding former inmates’ reentry into society, introducing the “Fresh Start Act” bill to create funding for automatic record-clearing for people with qualifying records.
As we consider efforts we can undertake to improve the American criminal justice system, it is more crucial than ever that we recognize the importance of providing second chances for those who have served their time by giving them access to job training and education, as well as providing support and resources to help them transition back into society. Polls have found bipartisan support that more than 80% of respondents were in favor of expanding second-chance hiring practices. These efforts will not only benefit the individuals themselves and reduce recidivism, but also strengthen our communities and the economy as a whole.
