— Updated: 3:43 pm -->Jail and Jobs
By CATHERINE RAMPELLIncarceration reduces former inmates’ earnings by 40 percent when compared to demographically similar counterparts who have not been imprisoned, according to a new report from Pew’s Economic Policy Group and the Pew Center on the States.
The report estimates that after being released, former inmates typically work nine fewer weeks a year, and their annual earnings drop to $23,500 from $39,100. Not surprisingly, given the stigmatizing effect that a criminal record can have on a job applicant’s résumé, former inmates enjoy less income mobility than counterparts who did not serve time.
Among the other disturbing findings (in chart form) from the report:
1) The United States houses more inmates than the top 35 European countries combined.
Source: International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College, London, “World Prison Brief,” http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/worldbrief/wpb_stats.php. Data downloaded June 2010. Note: Rates are for total number of residents, not just adults. Figures in this chart may not align with others due to counting methods.
2) Incarceration rates in the United States have risen sharply since 1980, especially for young black men. Today more than one in three young black men without a high school diploma is currently behind bars.
Source: Original analysis for The Pew Charitable Trusts by Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, 2009.
3) If you include inmates when looking at the jobs picture, that picture looks a whole lot worse. Believe it or not, young black men who dropped out of high school are more likely to be incarcerated than employed.
Source: Original analysis for The Pew Charitable Trusts by Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, 2009.
4) These trends have implications not only for those who are serving time, but also for the families that depend on them. There are twice as many minor children with incarcerated parents as there are incarcerated parents.
Source: Original analysis for The Pew Charitable Trusts by Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, 2009.
