View Research by Author - Steven Raphael

Publications

The Reentry Roundtable entitled, The Employment Dimensions of Prisoner Reentry: Understanding the Nexus between Prisoner Reentry and Work, was held on May 19-20, 2003 in New York City. The Roundtable focused on several aspects of the employment-reentry link, including the employment profile of the prison population; the work experience in prison; applicable lessons from welfare to work; the employment barriers ex-offenders face; and the potential linkages between correctional systems, intervention programs, and private employers. The meeting aimed to identify policy and research opportunities geared to improving the employment prospects, and thereby the chances of successful reintegration, for hundred of thousands of people leaving prison each year. This paper discusses the barrier offenders face when returning to the work force, examining both the characteristics and attitudes of ex-offenders and employers.

In this paper, we analyze employer demand for ex-offenders using a recent employer survey taken in Los Angeles in 2001. We analyze not only employer stated preferences to hire offenders, but also the extent to which they actually do so. In addition, we examine the extent to which employers check the criminal backgrounds of job applicants, and the nature of such criminal background checks. We find that employers stated willingness to hire ex-offenders, as well as their actual hiring of such workers, is very limited. This aversion varies with the characteristics of the offender--with employers being less averse to those charged with drug or property offenses, and more averse to those charged with a violent crime, those recently released from prison, and those without work experience. We also find that employer use of criminal background checks increased over the 1990s--and increased particularly after 9/11/01. The implications of these findings for the employment opportunities of ex-offenders and for policy are discussed.

In this paper, we present evidence on how a wide range of employer attitudes and hiring behaviors with respect to unskilled workers changed over the decade of the 1990s. We use a unique source of data: a set of cross-sectional employer surveys administered over the period 1992-2001. We also try to disentangle the effects of labor market conditions from broader secular trends. The results indicate that employers became more willing to hire a range of disadvantaged workers during the boom, including minorities, workers with certain stigmas (such as welfare recipients), and those without recent experience or high school diplomas. The wages paid to newly hired unskilled workers also increased. On the other hand, employer demand for specific skill certification rose over time, as did their use of certain screens. The results suggest that the tight labor markets of the late 1990s, in conjunction with other secular changes, raised hiring costs and induced employers to shift toward screens that seemed relatively more cost-effective.

The third meeting of the Reentry Roundtable was held on March 20-21, 2002, in Washington, DC. The title and theme of the meeting was "Prisoner Reentry and the Institutions of Civil Society: Bridges and Barriers to Successful Reintegration." The purpose of this meeting was to examine the role of communities, faith institutions, the business sector, public attitudes and legal barriers in prisoner reintegration. We commissioned discussion papers in each of these areas and asked the authors to give a short presentation to kick off the discussion. Our goal was to ask, in each of these areas, whether they serve as impediments or facilitators of the reintegration process. This paper reviews what is known about employer hiring behavior in the low-wage labor market.

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