- Title
- The Labor Market Consequences of Incarceration
- Author(s)
- Bruce Western Bruce Western (Princeton University)
- Jeffrey R. Kling Jeffrey Kling (Princeton University)
- David F. Weiman David Weiman (Russell Sage Foundation)
- Abstract
- Rapid growth in the incarceration rate over the last two decades has made prison time a routine event in the life course of young economically disadvantaged, black and Hispanic men. Although incarceration may now have large effects on economic inequality, only a few studies systematically examine the labor market experiences of ex-offenders. We review the mechanisms that plausibly link incarceration to employment and earnings and discuss the challenges of causal inference for a highly self-selected sample of criminal offenders. There is little consensus about the labor market effects of a variety of justice system sanctions, but there is consistent evidence for the negative effects of prison time on earnings, particularly among older or white-collar offenders. The labor market effects of incarceration are not yet well understood, but prior research suggests several promising avenues for future work.
- Creation Date
- 2001-01
- Section URL ID
- IRS
- Paper Number
- 450
- URL
- https://dataspace.princeton.edu/bitstream/88435/dsp01kw52j807k/1/450.pdf
- File Function
- Jel
- J4
- Keyword(s)
- criminal offender; inmate; employment; earnings
- Suppress
- false
- Series
- 1