The effect of labour market absence on finding employment: A comparison between ex-prisoners and unemployed future prisoners

Abstract

A period of labour market absence reduces one’s chances of getting a job. The labour market position of both imprisoned and unemployed individuals tends to worsen after their time out of the labour market. This study considers whether imprisonment has ‘scarring’ effects on job acquisition over and above unemployment. Using a unique quasi-experimental design with a high-risk sample, we conduct event history analyses in order to estimate the time to employment for a group of ex-prisoners ( n = 1159) and a group of unemployed future prisoners ( n = 271). The results show that ex-prisoners find employment more quickly and more often than unemployed future prisoners. This suggests that job assistance and deterrence may have positive effects on the job chances of released prisoners.