Employment After Prison: A Longitudinal Study of Former Prisoners

Engagement in outpatient substance abuse treatment and employment outcomes

“…Those who were incarcerated may have lost work skills, former prisoners are barred from certain occupations, and employers are often less willing to hire individuals with a criminal history. 13 This study also confirmed previous findings that employment after treatment for substance use disorders is related to prior employment, gender, age, race/ethnicity, education and type of drug use. Consistent with other studies, self-reported prior employment was a predictor of post-treatment employment and wages.…”

“…Among client characteristics, being younger than 45 years of age, having a high school education or more, and being employed at baseline predicted a higher probability of being employed in the year after treatment index. Also, clients who began substance use in the age ranges of (11)(12)(13)(14), (15)(16)(17) and (18)(19)(20) were more likely to be employed than those reporting first use at 21 and older. On the other hand, clients who reported opiate use in the last 30 days and clients with a treatment index occurring during the fourth quarter in 2008 were significantly less likely to be employed in the year following their index.…”

“…In fact, individuals with a history of substance use disorders or criminal justice involvement may turn to the informal sector because their options for finding work in the formal sector are worse than what they can find in the informal sector. 13,30 This study did not include information on arrests/incarcerations occurring outside of the state of Washington, thus limiting the ability to fully assess prior criminal justice involvement on employment. Second, like other non-randomized, observational studies, there may be unobserved or uncollected variables, which if included in the models would influence both engagement and outcomes (e.g., clients with stronger motivation at entrance to treatment may have both higher engagement and better outcomes).…”

“…Offenders with stronger pre-incarceration employment histories, as well as those holding an in-prison job have higher probabilities of securing employment upon release. 13 Previous research focused on arrest as the outcome 14 and prior criminal justice involvement proved to be a strong independent covariate. This led us to hypothesize that prior criminal justice involvement might moderate the impact of engagement for both arrests and other outcomes such as employment.…”

An exception to the rule: Belief in redeemability, desistance signals, and the employer’s decision to hire a job applicant with a criminal record

“…Compared to other job applicants, the single unique attribute that differentiates ex-offenders is a criminal record (Holzer, Raphael & Stoll., 2004;Snider & Reyson, 2014). Consequently, employers encounter an array of additional considerations in their hiring decisions, beyond the usual gamut regarding objective factors relating to skills, qualities, education, formal qualifications and work history (Sabol, 2007, Visher et al, 2011. These types of considerations are likely to apply regardless of whether a job applicant has a criminal record or not.…”