Full Citation

Title: Does Banning the Box Help Ex-O↵enders Get Jobs? Evaluating the E↵ects of a Prominent Example

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: This paper uses administrative employment and conviction data to evaluate laws that restrict employers’ information about job seekers’ criminal records. I first show that convictions generate large employment declines, partly due to shifts towards lower- paying industries less likely to check criminal histories. However, I find that a 2013 Seattle law barring employers from examining job seekers’ records until after an initial screening had negligible impacts on ex-o↵enders’ employment and earnings. The results are consistent with employers deferring background checks until later in the interview process or ex-o↵enders continuing to only apply to jobs where clean records are not a prerequisite, a pattern supported by survey evidence and the post-conviction shifts in industry of employment.

Url: https://ekrose.github.io/files/btb_seattle_0418.pdf

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Rose, Evan, K

Publisher: University of California, Berkeley University of Pennsylvania and NBER

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Crime and Deviance, Other

Countries: United States