Employment and Recidivism: What the Data Shows
Steady work is one of the strongest predictors of whether someone returns to prison. That makes a hiring decision a public safety decision.
Work is the stabilizer
Income, structure, and a reason to be somewhere every morning do more to prevent reoffending than almost anything that happens inside a facility. Researchers consistently find lower reoffending rates among people who find stable employment after release.
Underemployment is its own risk
A job that ends in three weeks does not stabilize anyone. Durability matters more than the starting wage — a modest job with a real schedule and a path forward beats a higher-paying gig that evaporates.
Local employers carry the outcome
Prisons do not decide reentry outcomes; the shops, warehouses, kitchens, and contractors in a community do. A single employer who hires four people a year changes four households.