Do job candidates with criminal histories benefit from ban-the-box laws?

It is estimated that approximately 70 million Americans have a criminal conviction or arrest record that would appear on a criminal background check. There is a growing concern that having a criminal background may unfairly disadvantage job applicants, as employers may not give full consideration to qualified applicants with criminal histories. In response to these concerns, policy makers have enacted ban-the-box laws, which restrict the ability of employers to perform criminal background checks until after the job candidate’s first interview. With a few notable exceptions, these laws generally apply to the public sector and prevent city and state agencies from asking questions about criminal histories on job applications. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one exception where ban-the-box applies to both public and private employers. Philadelphia’s law went into effect July 12, 2011, prohibiting employers from inquiring about criminal convictions until after the first interview. The law’s intended purpose is twofold: (1) increase the hiring of ex-offenders and (2) decrease recidivism.

This paper provides the first empirical examination of ban-the-box by using the passage of the law in Philadelphia as a natural experiment. Difference-in-difference methods are used to test whether ban- the-box affects labor market outcomes, such as the probability of employment, wages, and hours of work. Data from the Current Population Survey’s Outgoing Rotation Group are used to create the treatment and control groups. The treatment group consists of the working-age male population residing in Philadelphia after the passage of ban-the-box, while the control group consists of the working-age male population in Pennsylvania residing outside of Philadelphia and those residing in Philadelphia before the law’s passage. The empirical results indicate that ban-the-box had a statistically insignificant effect on labor market outcomes. However, there is limited evidence that ban-the-box may have decreased the probability of employment of black males. This result is consistent with the idea that employers who do not use criminal background checks may be more inclined to use statistical discrimination against black males.