Eric Mayo Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace ~ Jobs for Felons: How felons can get jobs Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace | Jobs for Felons: How felons can get jobs Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace | Jobs for Felons: How felons can get jobs
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Friday, May 6, 2016

Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace

Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace

New research shows employers could be missing out by avoiding felons in hiring

 

 


 
Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace

The study is one of the first to assess the actual performance of felons in the workplace, according to the authors. Previous research has focused on the employment barriers themselves that result from a criminal record. A 2003 study by Pager, for example, showed that ex-offenders are roughly half as likely to receive a callback relative to equally qualified applicants with no criminal record, and that black candidates suffer disproportionately. The study found that whites with criminal records received more interview callbacks than blacks without past arrests.

The new research, which used the Freedom of Information Act to collect administrative data on 1.3 million ex-offender and non-offender soldiers who enlisted between 2002 and 2009, lends support to the so-called "Ban the Box" campaign spreading around the country that aims to persuade employers to remove the check box on hiring applications that asks candidates whether they have been convicted of a crime. Supporters of the campaign say the box unnecessarily narrows the pool of qualified applicants.

Some 23 states, over 100 cities and some of the largest U.S. private employers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp., and Koch Industries Inc. have already taken steps to remove barriers in the hiring of those with a criminal record.  The federal government last week proposed a rule that would prohibit federal agencies from asking about a job applicant's criminal history until after making a conditional employment offer.

The "Ban the Box" campaign "isn't saying that employers shouldn't do criminal background checks," Pager said. "It's just saying to first focus on skills and qualifications that are relevant to the job."

Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace
If adopted nationwide, such measures could help lift employment barriers for millions of ex-offenders. Today, the U.S. incarcerated population is about four-and-a-half times larger than in 1980, with more than 2.2 million people held in federal and state prisons and county jails in 2014, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Even after adjusting for population growth, the incarceration rate grew by more than 220 percent from 1980 to 2014, according to a White House Council of Economic Advisers report issued last week. More than 600,000 individuals are released from prison each year.

Given the increase of job seekers with criminal pasts, Pager sees legitimate consequences for the broader labor market if otherwise qualified candidates are weeded out.

"We know that finding a quality, steady job following release from prison is one of the strongest predictors of desistance from crime," she said. "For that reason alone, reintegrating ex-offenders and supporting employment as a key part of that process is in everyone's interest."


Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace


Ex-Felons May Outperform You in the Workplace
Eric Mayo

 
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