From 1980 to 2000, incarceration levels and enforcement of child support policies -- both of which disproportionately affect young, poorly educated African American men -- increased significantly. The authors performed a quantitative study using state-level data to test the effects of these factors on employment and labor force participation. Indeed, incarceration and child support policies contributed to declining employment among this demographic.
- Employment rates for young, poorly educated African-American women increased dramatically in the 1990's, while the figures for their male counterparts continued to decline.
- The three percent increase in incarceration in the two decades had the effect of decreasing employment of young black men by two to four percentage points.
- The effect of increased enforcement of child support was about a four percent rise in labor force activity among black men from ages 25-34.
- States should make an effort to reduce barriers to employment faced by former prisoners; this could include lightening restrictions on the formal employment of inmates.
- States should develop child support orders that take low incomes into account, perhaps by being more open to arrearage forgiveness in certain cases.
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- Copyright 2004 Urban Institute.
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