Compelling evidence that "ban the box" policies succeed at raising employment in high-crime neighborhoods.
Source: Shoag and Veuger (2019). Full paper here: https://t.co/JC1MNj2qIK @stanveuger pic.twitter.com/AZ1XHC2fLH
— Michael R. Strain (@MichaelRStrain) March 31, 2019
It’s (surprisingly) hard to know for sure, but there are likely as many as 70 million U.S. adults with an arrest or conviction record. Over 600,000 people are released from prisons each year.
It is harder for these people to get jobs then it should be because of the common business practice of asking applicants whether they have ever been convicted of a crime on their initial employment application.
Job applications send employers signals about the applicants. The way many applications are structured, the first signal an employer gets is about criminal history, rather than about the applicant’s qualifications for and interest in the job, or the applicant’s interpersonal skills and work ethic.
“Ban the box” laws switch up this order, prohibiting employers from asking about criminal history until closer to the end of the hiring process.
Thirty-one states and more than 150 cities and counties have some form of ban-the-box law on the books. More should.
Congress is currently considering a bill with bipartisan support that would prohibit the federal government and federal contractors from inquiring about applicants’ criminal histories until after a conditional employment offer has been extended.
If you’re worried about the unintended consequences of these laws — well, you should be. In my latest Bloomberg column, I discuss those potential unintended effects, and why I am still in favor of ban-the-box laws.
Ban-the-box addresses how the plumbing of the labor market — the concrete steps that employers take to hire workers — might systematically make it harder for millions of ex-offenders to get jobs. The labor market’s broken pipes are bad for the economy as a whole, suppressing workforce participation and impeding the process by which workers find the best jobs for their skills, talents and effort.
And a society that aggressively incarcerates so many offenders should be aggressive in facilitating the successful re-entry of ex-offenders.
Check out my full column here. Your comments, particularly if you disagree, are very welcome.