Essay Example on Which type of unemployment do the people that have been incarcerated Fall

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So which type of unemployment do the people that have been incarcerated fall into According to prison policy org there is roughly 2 million Americans incarcerated at any given time and that ranges from federal prison to juvenile incarceration They fall into the structural unemployment arena Most of them have suffered long periods of unemployment thus not that familiar with the ever changing world of technology Having a skill is something they may line while behind bars but is it the skill that is in demand once they have been released In most situations that is not the case so they need to go and acquire the necessary skills so they can get a job Let discuss the obstacles former convicts face if they do have the necessary skills that are in demand On every job application there is a box that asks if you have ever been incarcerated Quite often when a person checks this box a company will not give them the chance to prove themselves

This is for a variety of reasons feel they can't be trusted What company has the time of money to put towards someone they have to keep their eye on all the time There are times that the applicant can explain the reason they were behind bars and the nature of the crime before they are automatically disqualified from the job Now that being said there are some crimes that by law bars a person from entering into many occupations Another obstacle that keeps them from getting hired as previously stated usually they have been unemployed for a great period of time and have been disconnected with society technology Having the ability to interact with fellow employees and the general public is something that most companies depend on having been behind bars gives you a gap where your entire life is regimented for you With technology moving as fast as it does any long stretches behind bars certainly puts those at a larger disadvantage than they are already are Companies look for members of society that already have the skills and knowledge how to work in today's technologically savvy environment and do not want to spend valuable dollars on getting them trained and up to speed Furthermore an obstacle that is a national problem is low literacy rates

According to an article by Caitlin Curry an estimated 70 percent of inmates have low literacy ability and cannot read above a 4th grade level which makes it hard for them to even understand how to seek employment write their resume or fill out the application Curry 2016 If a job applicant has the inability to read and comprehend a job application then the prospective employer does not want to spend the time and energy in reviewing the application Finally the last obstacle many former prisoners have is substance abuse Substance abuse in prison is running rampant Many employers require employees to be drug free and many also perform a drug test before even offering a person a job If a person is unable or unwilling to pass the drug test then there is usually nothing a potential employer can do to help them out and give them a job Economic Impact What kind of impact do former convicts have on the economy According to a position paper by Malcom Young from Northwestern

Law The removal of approximately 1 1 million men from the labor market while incarcerated and the restrictions placed on them following release results in an annual net loss in gross domestic product of between 57 65 billion in 2008 by one estimate19 and 100 200 billion annually by another Young 2014 As you recall domestic gross product is the measure of market value of all final goods and services produced in a period of time If these members were able to contribute to society by getting a job their work alone would have put the U S gross domestic product value at between 580 and 780 billion dollars annually The Way Ahead Moving forward how can we as a society move ahead and get former convicts jobs The first thing that needs to be done is a heavy emphasis on academic programs Getting prisoner interested and behind academic programs can determine the success they have in getting a job in the future Studies have shown that those incarcerated people that get a G E D have the same knowledge of those that were not incarcerated that have a G E D

Another upside to these academic programs is the social interaction and communication skills one can learn from this type of setting Another upside to this type of program is the ability of inmate to learn problem solving skills that differ from what might have put them behind bars in the first place The next thing that needs to happen is intense instruction for vocational training focused on specific skills It would be a good idea if a college or vocational school or business could work hand in hand with a prison based vocational program By doing this a prison could get a certificate in welding for example a job that they can be proud of and usually has openings for employment In Germany they offer apprenticeships as Young states wherein companies pay employees for up to three years of on the job training and classroom instruction at vocational schools and for which employer s associations trade unions and the German federal government jointly prepare curricula Young 2014

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