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Author: He, Dan
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Liu, Han
He, Dan
Employment Trajectories after Incarceration: Patterns and Racial Disparity
Presented: San Francisco CA, American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 2019
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: American Society of Criminology
Keyword(s): Employment; Incarceration/Jail; Labor Market Outcomes; Racial Differences; Unemployment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Despite a large literature documenting the impact of imprisonment on labor market opportunities, less understanding exists of the actual employment trajectories of former prisoners. We use sequence analysis to chart the entire employment trajectories for 640 U.S. male former inmates in the first five years following imprisonment. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we find that although more than half (59.84%) former inmates got into stable employment after they are released, the rest of them (40.16%) experienced long time unemployment or unstable employment. Besides, the results also reveal a racial disparity in post-release employment trajectory. Compared to Whites, African-Americans are less likely to get into stable employment trajectories. Further analysis shows that this racial disparity cannot be fully explained by the length of incarceration, previous incarceration experiences, and other social demographic variables. This paper sheds lights on former prisoners' transitions back into society. By analyzing the dynamics of employment trajectories, the paper integrates the life course perspective into research on the impact of imprisonment on labor market outcomes. The racial disparity revealed by the data also implies that the unequal impact of criminal records may lead to divergent life trajectories for different racial/ethnic groups.
Bibliography Citation
Liu, Han and Dan He. "Employment Trajectories after Incarceration: Patterns and Racial Disparity." Presented: San Francisco CA, American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting, November 2019.