Spotlight Announcement

3/25/2008: Employment Plays Crucial Role in Successful Reentry

Early findings from a recent federally funded research evaluation suggest that providing transitional work and supportive employment services to individuals shortly after their release from prison can significantly lessen the likelihood of subsequent convictions and reincarceration. The study also showed that transitional work generated large positive differences in employment rates between program participants and non-participants, although these differences declined sharply by the end of one year.

MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization, conducted the study as part of the national Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Demonstration and Evaluation Project, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with support from the U.S. Department of Labor. MDRC analyzed employment outcomes among approximately 1,000 people who were released from prison and received employment services from the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), a well-established New York City nonprofit organization. Since its inception as an independent organization in 1996, CEO has helped more than 10,000 parolees secure permanent employment.

One of the study's major findings suggests that engaging individuals in work soon after they are released from prison is an important component of a successful reentry employment initiative. Among individuals who were recruited for the study within three months of their release from prison, those who participated in CEO's comprehensive employment services – including its short-term transitional work program – were significantly less likely to have their parole revoked, to be convicted of a felony, or to be reincarcerated within the first year of the study, compared to a control group that received limited support services at CEO. These differences were not seen between program participants and control group members who joined the study more than three months after their release from prison.

CEO's program increased employment among all participants, regardless of the amount of time between their release from prison and program enrollment. However, these initial gains in employment dropped substantially during the course of the first year of the study, with equal percentages (about one-third) of program participants and control group members remaining employed at the end of the year. It is worth noting, though, that program participants were about twice as likely as non-participants to have worked at some point during all four quarters of the year.

MDRC's evaluation of CEO is still in an early stage, and researchers will continue to collect and analyze outcomes data for a more thorough report to be released later this year. This preliminary study, however – in addition to other studies published on this topic – suggests that providing employment services for people shortly after they are released from prison is a worthwhile endeavor for policymakers and practitioners to pursue.

For more information about the transitional work model and other strategies policymakers can implement to effectively promote employment among people with criminal records, see the Report of the Re-Entry Policy Council, Policy Statement 21: Creation of Employment Opportunities and Policy Statement 22: Workforce Development and the Transition Plan. In addition, the preliminary evaluation of CEO's transitional employment program is available on MDRC's website.