Race, work history, and the employment recidivism relationship

Abstract Recent studies have found that race, work history, postprison employment, and recidivism are intertwined, suggesting race history may shape the employment–recidivism relationship in nuanced, yet underexplored ways. Additionally, literature has to settle on what kinds of employment patterns matter most for recidivism. These issues especially important resolve given contemporary concerns about mass incarceration racial disparities among citizens returning from prison. To investigate these questions, we analyze administrative prison records, unemployment insurance (UI) quarterly data, a follow‐up documenting multiple failures approximately eight years. Frailty models, which address unobserved heterogeneity those prone events, reveal establishing recent unlocks protective effect between does not vary by race. We also find being sporadically employed is as more consistently employed. Our findings imply contributes via racialized barriers labor market participation rather than differential effects. results further suggest addressing with no facing entry, could significantly reduce