Topline: JPMorgan Chase announced an expansion of its efforts to hire people with criminal backgrounds Monday, continuing the trend of big companies “banning the box” and giving people second chances.
- JPMorgan Chase hired 2,100 people with criminal records in 2018, which equals about 10% of their total hires last year.
- The bank knows those people have records, because they conduct background checks on applicants after a job offer has been made.
- Applicants with criminal records are being considered for entry-level jobs like account servicing and transaction processing, according to the bank’s press release.
- The unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is 27%, while the nationwide unemployment rate is 3.5%, according to the bank.
- But the tight labor market could be more beneficial to people with criminal records—a July survey from staffing firm Adecco showed that 35% of respondents would consider those applicants, and 21% of respondents are no longer drug-testing them.
- Koch Industries, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Target and Home Depot are among other corporations that have increased hiring efforts of the formerly incarcerated since at least 2013.
Surprising fact: The U.S. loses up to $87 billion annually in GDP by excluding people with criminal backgrounds from the workforce, said the bank.
Bullshit. The news article I saw on the news said it’s limited to misdemeanors and low level felonies.
I recently applied AND interviewed with AmerisourceBergen. I told them before my interview of my background.
The company knew. The two interviewers did not know. I lost the opportunity because of what I perceived was ageism, not my sex offender status.
“You should have applied for my job, I would rather work for you than have you work for me. You are way overqualified for this job.”
AmerisourceBergen told me that they would not refuse to hire me because of a sex offense over 20 years old. They will NOT hire people with drug offenses period.