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  • 2021
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Increasing the Demand for Workers with a Criminal Record

By: Zoë B. Cullen, Will Dobbie and Mitchell Hoffman
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
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Abstract

State and local policies increasingly restrict employers’ access to criminal records, but without addressing the underlying reasons that employers may conduct criminal background checks. Employers may thus still want to ask about a job applicant’s criminal record later in the hiring process or make inaccurate judgments based on an applicant’s demographic characteristics. In this paper, we use a field experiment conducted in partnership with a nationwide staffing platform to test policies that more directly address the reasons that employers may conduct criminal background checks. The experiment asked hiring managers at nearly a thousand U.S. businesses to make incentive-compatible decisions under different randomized conditions. We find that 39% of businesses in our sample are willing to work with individuals with a criminal record at baseline, which rises to over 50% when businesses are offered crime and safety insurance, a single performance review, or a limited background check covering just the past year. Wage subsidies can achieve similar increases but at substantially higher cost. Based on our findings, the staffing platform relaxed the criminal background check requirement and offered crime and safety insurance to interested businesses.

Keywords

Criminal Record; Hiring; Job Search; Selection and Staffing; Laws and Statutes; United States

Citation

Cullen, Zoë B., Will Dobbie, and Mitchell Hoffman. "Increasing the Demand for Workers with a Criminal Record." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-023, September 2021. (Conditionally Accepted, The Quarterly Journal of Economics.)

Supplemental Information

Online Appendix
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About The Author

Zoe B. Cullen

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary Comparisons By: Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia
  • A Close Shave at Squire By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Zoë B. Cullen, William R. Kerr, Benjamin N. Roth and Michael Norris
  • Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms By: Zoë Cullen and Chiara Farronato
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