Declining employment among young black less-educated men: The role of incarceration and child support

Holzer, Harry J.; Offner, Paul; Sorensen, Elaine

doi:10.1002/pam.20092

Cited by 142 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Similarly, in Harris, Evans, and Beckett's (2010:1782) research on legal financial obligations stemming from involvement in the criminal justice system, some respondents reported "fear of being sanctioned for nonpayment led them to hide from authorities." After the U.S. Congress passed the Child Support Recovery Act in 1992, which administratively linked child support and public assistance records (Rich, Garfinkel, and Gao 2007;Wimberly 2000), research suggests the fear of detection led some men to withdraw from formal employment and increase underground work (Holzer, Offner, and Sorensen 2005;Waller and Plotnick 2001).…”

Section: Surveillance and Its Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveillance and System Avoidance

Brayne

2014

Am Sociol Rev

412

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The degree and scope of criminal justice surveillance increased dramatically in the United States over the past four decades. Recent qualitative research suggests the rise in surveillance may be met with a concomitant increase in efforts to evade it. To date, however, there has been no quantitative empirical test of this theory. In this article, I introduce the concept of "system avoidance," whereby individuals who have had contact with the criminal justice system avoid surveilling institutions that keep formal records. Using data from Add Health (n = 15,170) and the NLSY97 (n = 8,894), I find that individuals who have been stopped by police, arrested, convicted, or incarcerated are less likely to interact with surveilling institutions, including medical, financial, labor market, and educational institutions, than their counterparts who have not had criminal justice contact. By contrast, individuals with criminal justice contact are no less likely to participate in civic or religious institutions. Because criminal justice contact is disproportionately distributed, this study suggests system avoidance is a potential mechanism through which the criminal justice system contributes to social stratification: it severs an already marginalized subpopulation from institutions that are pivotal to desistance from crime and their own integration into broader society.

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Section: Surveillance and Its Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveillance and System Avoidance

Brayne

2014

Am Sociol Rev

412

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“…Research on ex-offenders' labor market performance suggests that a criminal past has negative consequences on various labor market outcomes, such as employment and earnings (Lott 1990;Waldfogel 1994;Grogger 1995;Needels 1996;Borland and Hunter 2000;Western et al 2001;Western 2002;Pager 2003;Pager et al 2009a;Pager et al 2009b;Holzer et al 2005;Holzer et al 2006;Kling 2006;Graffam et al 2008;Apel and Sweeten 2010;Dominguez Alvarez and Loureiro 2012;Baert and Verhofstadt 2015). Being deprived of labor market opportunities due to a criminal background has serious consequences for ex-offenders and for society as a whole.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market

Ahmed

Lång

2017

IZA J Labor Policy

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This paper presents the findings of a field experiment on hiring discrimination against ex-offenders in the Swedish labor market. Matched pairs of written job applications for fictitious male and female applicants with and without a past conviction of assault were sent to employers for nine different occupations. Results show that discrimination against ex-offenders exists, but the extent of it varies across occupations. The past conviction of assault was associated with 7-18 percentage point lower probability of receiving a positive employer response. Discrimination against ex-offenders was pronounced in female-dominated and highskilled occupations. The magnitude of discrimination against ex-offenders did not vary by applicants' sex.JEL Classification: C93, J71, K42

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“…For example, racial gaps in unemployment have shown little change since 1980 (9,10), and the black-white gap in labor force participation rates among young men widened during this time (11). Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement shone a spotlight on the ongoing struggles with racism and discrimination experienced by people of color in interactions with law enforcement.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Meta-analysis of field experiments shows no change in racial discrimination in hiring over time

Quillian

Pager

Hexel

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

618

393

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This study investigates change over time in the level of hiring discrimination in US labor markets. We perform a meta-analysis of every available field experiment of hiring discrimination against African Americans or Latinos (n = 28). Together, these studies represent 55,842 applications submitted for 26,326 positions. We focus on trends since 1989 (n = 24 studies), when field experiments became more common and improved methodologically. Since 1989, whites receive on average 36% more callbacks than African Americans, and 24% more callbacks than Latinos. We observe no change in the level of hiring discrimination against African Americans over the past 25 years, although we find modest evidence of a decline in discrimination against Latinos. Accounting for applicant education, applicant gender, study method, occupational groups, and local labor market conditions does little to alter this result. Contrary to claims of declining discrimination in American society, our estimates suggest that levels of discrimination remain largely unchanged, at least at the point of hire. discrimination | labor markets | field experiments | race | ethnicity

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Declining employment among young black less-educated men: The role of incarceration and child support

Cited by 142 publications

References 26 publications

Surveillance and System Avoidance

Surveillance and System Avoidance

The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market

Meta-analysis of field experiments shows no change in racial discrimination in hiring over time

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