More employers are open to hiring ex-felons as they face their own challenges in finding recruits amid the tighter job market, CNBC reports, citing a recent study from the Society of Human Resource Management. More than 2,000 corporate managers and HR executives across the country were surveyed on how they felt about hiring ex-felons.
Another report released in July from the Prison Policy Initiative points out that the unemployment rate for ex-convicts is more than 27%, which beats the U.S. unemployment rate for any period in U.S. history, including the Great Depression. The study by the group is touted as the first ever estimate of unemployment for this population of 5 million.
"Our estimate of the unemployment rate establishes that formerly incarcerated people want to work, but face structural barriers to securing employment, particularly within the period immediately following release," Lucius Couloute and Daniel Kopf note in the Prison Policy Initiative report.
"For those who are Black or Hispanic--especially women--status as 'formerly incarcerated' reduces their employment chances even more."
The good news for ex-convicts is that research shows this population proving to be solid employees when given a chance, the Prison Policy Initiative report notes. Research shows those in the U.S. military with criminal records rose through the ranks quicker than their counterparts with no criminal records, and that call center workers with criminal records held their jobs longer and were less likely to resign compared to those with clean records.
"This isn't a problem of aspirations, it's a structural problem involving discrimination and a lack of opportunities available to people who have been to prison," Couloute, a policy analyst with the Prison Policy Initiative, tells CNBC. "It really takes employers who are willing to let go of their biases in pursuit not only of equality but of the best candidates."
Advocates are heartened to see more corporations open to hiring ex-convicts or making it easier for them to find work. The job site portal, Glassdoor, for example, no longer accepts job listings from firms that aim to shut out those who served time.
The federal government also offers a tax credit to employers who hire and keep ex-convicts. The credit is through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit program, the Houston Chronicle reports.
If the employee clocks in a minimum of 120 hours, the employer can claim for a 25% credit on that employee's first year of salary. An employee who works 400 hours in their first year means an employer can claim a credit of 40%.
Teresa Hodge had worked for human resources prior to serving more than five years in federal prison. In an opinion column in USA Today, she writes about how HR departments are often set up to automatically reject ex-convicts simply as a way to narrow down the multitude of job applications that come in.
Hodge considers herself fortunate in that she served her time in Alderson federal prison camp in West Virginia--the same facility where Martha Stewart did her time. She had freedoms unheard of at most prisons, including no cells and was able to offer free business consulting while in prison via email.
"This free business consulting helped me mentally survive and feel like part of something other than prison," she writes. "However, while locked up, I was bored and afraid I would not be able to keep pace with the world upon my release."
Hodge, who founded Mission Launch, a non-profit that helps former inmates, urges HR to reevaluate their internal practices to ensure they are giving potential hires who've served their time a fair shot.
"While it's important that we discontinue the practice of disqualifying applicants for simply having criminal records, it's also imperative that HR professionals have access to other criteria they need to determine a candidate's eligibility," Hodge writes. "Formerly incarcerated people need a way back into the workforce, and HR professionals need a way of weeding them in instead of out of the pile. We can't afford not to."