More and more businesses struggling to find workers are loosening their standards and potentially hiring people with criminal records and an effort to aid social justice progress in America.
"There's so many employers that are desperate to hire workers," Jails to Jobs Inc. Executive Director Mark Drevno told Business Insider. "It makes economic sense and so that's why it's on their radar I think."
The second-chance hiring phenomenon is apparent at banks, pharmacies, and railroads, experts told BI.
"We're really trying to think about the whole person," Union Pacific Corp. Executive VP Beth Whited told BI. "What really happened, what have they done to rehabilitate and learn new skills, what's their motivation for coming to work so that we're really thoughtfully considering people."
Job applications often ask about criminal records and background checks ultimately turn them up, putting those who have been in prison at a 27% unemployment rate in the U.S. as recently as 2018, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
There are about 600,000 released inmates annually, according to Justice Department data.
"I think a lot of employers are looking at this as an untapped talent pool, and given the shortages everywhere they're open to looking at maybe different groups they hadn't looked at before," Redemption Project President and co-founder Tim Owens told BI.
JPMorgan Chase's Executive Director Nan Gibson said employees welcome the second-chance co-workers.
"What we have seen is a very positive reaction from our employees," she told BI. "Our second-chance hiring efforts are a great source of pride for many of our employees."
While the unemployment rate in America is 3.5%, there is a higher rate among Blacks at 5.8%, according to the report.
"Demographically there's a large minority population that has [been] or is incarcerated and so it was an opportunity for us to lean in and do an even better job," CVS Executive Director of Workforce Initiatives Ernie DuPont told BI.
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