Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a field experiment on hiring discrimination against ex-offenders in the Swedish labor market. Matched pairs of written job applications for fictitious male and female applicants with and without a past conviction of assault were sent to employers for nine different occupations. Results show that discrimination against ex-offenders exists, but the extent of it varies across occupations. The past conviction of assault was associated with 7–18 percentage point lower probability of receiving a positive employer response. Discrimination against ex-offenders was pronounced in female-dominated and high-skilled occupations. The magnitude of discrimination against ex-offenders did not vary by applicants’ sex.
Highlights
Economic measures of success reveal significant inequalities between ex-offenders and non-offenders in the labor market in many countries
Under the assumption that employers are able to distinguish job applicants with a criminal background from job applicants without a criminal background, the main research hypothesis that we evaluate in this study is that ex-offenders are discriminated against in the labor market
Since crime rates are higher among men and among low-skilled people and in larger cities, we argued that the acceptability of ex-offenders in the labor market should be
Summary
Economic measures of success reveal significant inequalities between ex-offenders and non-offenders in the labor market in many countries. For ex-offenders, barriers to the labor market can affect their economic well-being and health (Link and Phelan 2001; Major and O’Brien 2005) This is problematic both for the individual and society, since disadvantages in the labor market may encourage or force ex-offenders to bounce back to the criminal world and fail to reintegrate into society post-punishment (Needels, 1996; Wu and Wu, 2012). Barriers to the labor market for ex-offenders can, have significant economic consequences in society in terms of increased crime and criminal victimization along with lost human resources and productivity.
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