Search Results
Title: Effect of Employer Access to Criminal History Data on the Labor Market Outcomes of Ex-Offenders and Non-Offenders
Resulting in 1 citation.
| 1. |
Finlay, Keith |
|
Effect of Employer Access to Criminal History Data on the Labor Market Outcomes of Ex-Offenders and Non-Offenders Presented: Washington, DC, Bureau of Labor Statistics Conference Center, NLSY97 Tenth Anniversary Conference, May 29-30, 2008. Also: http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/Research/conferences/NLSYConf/pdf/finlay.pdf Cohort(s): NLSY97 Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor Keyword(s): Crime; Discrimination, Employer; Employment; Human Capital; Incarceration/Jail; Labor Force Participation; Labor Market Outcomes This paper exploits this previously unexamined variation to identify the effect of expanded employer access to criminal history data on the labor market outcomes of ex-offenders and non-offenders. Employers express a strong aversion to hiring ex-offenders, but there is likely asymmetric information about criminal records. Wider availability of criminal history records should adversely affect the labor market outcomes of ex-offenders. A model of statistical discrimination also predicts that non-offenders from groups with high rates of criminal offense should have improved labor market outcomes when criminal history records become more accessible. This paper tests these hypotheses with criminal and labor market histories from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I find evidence that labor market outcomes are worse for ex-offenders once state criminal history records become available over the Internet, and somewhat weaker evidence that outcomes are better for nonoffenders from highly offending groups. Results for ex-offenders demonstrate the presence of imperfect information about criminal records by employers. The non-offender results are consistent with statistical discrimination by employers. Estimates may be confounded by a short sample period and ongoing human capital investments, but the research design provides a unique setting for testing theories of statistical discrimination. |
|
|
Bibliography Citation
Finlay, Keith. "Effect of Employer Access to Criminal History Data on the Labor Market Outcomes of Ex-Offenders and Non-Offenders." Presented: Washington, DC, Bureau of Labor Statistics Conference Center, NLSY97 Tenth Anniversary Conference, May 29-30, 2008. |