By: Jeffrey Korzenik, Chief Investment Strategist, Fifth Third Bank
“Would you rather pay someone $30,000 to do a job, or pay $30,000 to keep someone in jail?” That was the question posed to me by Dan Meyer, CEO of Nehemiah Manufacturing. The Cincinnati-based manufacturer of consumer products has pursued the former option, hiring dozens of employees with past criminal records. The national dialog on the U.S. justice system largely focuses on sentencing reforms, but proposed changes will be fruitless if those with criminal records have no job opportunities and no recourse but to return to illegal activities. Nehemiah and others are pioneers in developing paths for “second-chancers” or “returning citizens” (those who have been released from prison) to lead productive and meaningful lives.
August The National Employment Law Project estimates that more than 70 million Americans have criminal records of some kind. A 2014 study for the Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that the recidivism rate for those convicted is an astonishing 76 percent within five years. Employment plays a critical role in true rehabilitation, and every successful re-entry into society eliminates the enormous associated costs of crime to victims, to families of offenders and to their communities.
Firms that focus on integrating those with criminal pasts are rare. To better understand the obstacles they face, I have spent time with Nehemiah and two other enterprises that have overcome the challenges of employing second chancers. All three firms operate in different geographies and produce different products and services. All three employers emphasized that simply being willing to hire a second chancer is not enough. An employer must be committed to the particular needs of these workers. To address this issue, each firm partners with nonprofits to offer a support ecosystem to meet the challenges inherent in this labor pool, including poverty, lack of access to transportation and struggles with addiction.
America has long been a land of second chances, but the millions of citizens with criminal pasts are often cheated of the opportunity to return to lives of meaning and contribution. There always has been a moral imperative to help such citizens reclaim their lives, but to that we should add the economic imperative. The cost and lost potential of failing to reintegrate second chancers comes at a time when the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3 percent and businesses struggle to fill openings while outsourcing abroad and immigration may no longer be politically acceptable alternatives. Expanding the viable labor pool to include those with prison pasts represents a largely untapped opportunity for our economy.
This piece was excerpted and updated from an August 2017 article on LinkedIn by Jeff Korzenik. For the full text, visit LinkedIn. If you’d like to learn more about expanding your labor pool and hearing from Mr. Korzenik, register for the upcoming Workforce ReEntry Development Initiative event on Tuesday, September 24 at the United Way.
Firms that focus on integrating those with criminal pasts are rare. To better understand the obstacles they face, I have spent time with Nehemiah and two other enterprises that have overcome the challenges of employing second chancers. All three firms operate in different geographies and produce different products and services. All three employers emphasized that simply being willing to hire a second chancer is not enough. An employer must be committed to the particular needs of these workers. To address this issue, each firm partners with nonprofits to offer a support ecosystem to meet the challenges inherent in this labor pool, including poverty, lack of access to transportation and struggles with addiction.
America has long been a land of second chances, but the millions of citizens with criminal pasts are often cheated of the opportunity to return to lives of meaning and contribution. There always has been a moral imperative to help such citizens reclaim their lives, but to that we should add the economic imperative. The cost and lost potential of failing to reintegrate second chancers comes at a time when the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3 percent and businesses struggle to fill openings while outsourcing abroad and immigration may no longer be politically acceptable alternatives. Expanding the viable labor pool to include those with prison pasts represents a largely untapped opportunity for our economy.
This piece was excerpted and updated from an August 2017 article on LinkedIn by Jeff Korzenik. For the full text, visit LinkedIn. If you’d like to learn more about expanding your labor pool and hearing from Mr. Korzenik, register for the upcoming Workforce ReEntry Development Initiative event on Tuesday, September 24 at the United Way.
 | Jeff Korzenik is chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Bank in Chicago. He writes on issues of economics and public policy. The views expressed are his own. This information is provided for educational purposes only and is subject to change. Fifth Third Bank. Member FDIC. |
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