The Business Case for Clean Slate Maryland

“84% of small business owners agree that Clean Slate policies will provide individuals with a second chance and open up the job pool.”

The Intersection Of Clean Slate, The Economy & Workforce Needs

Clean Slate has received strong support from the business community across the country. Large employers such as JPMorgan Chase and Koch Industries, as well as business advocacy organizations including the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ) and the Small Business Majority, recognize the economic and workforce benefits of Clean Slate policies.

When barriers to employment are removed, everyone wins. Employers have a deeper pool of qualified candidates to fill open positions. Workers’ income increases. State and local governments receive more taxes to invest in the community.

Below are some of the data points that illustrate the impact the Clean Slate laws or record clearance, in general, can have.

The estimated loss in gross domestic product every year resulting from shutting people with records out of the workforce is $78 billion to $87 billion (Barber & Bucknor, 2016).

  • Research conducted in Michigan found that a year after record clearance, people are 11 percent more likely to be employed and earn 22 percent higher wages (Prescott & Starr, 2020).

  • An arrest or conviction record reduces a job seeker’s chance of getting a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent (Pager et al., 2009).

  • The unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is 27 percent, which is higher than it has ever been for the general population (Couloute & Kopf, 2018).

  • Conviction and imprisonment experienced early in life lower individuals’ annual earnings (Craigie et al., 2020):

  • People who have spent time in prison suffer the greatest losses, with their subsequent annual earnings reduced by an average of 52 percent.

  • People convicted of a felony but not imprisoned for it see their annual earnings reduced by an average of 22 percent.

  • People convicted of a misdemeanor see their annual earnings reduced by an average of 16 percent.

  • People who have been convicted or imprisoned lose up to half a million dollars in earnings over the course of a career.

  • People with criminal convictions face lost wages in excess of $372 billion every year.

  • A person’s history of incarceration is associated with post-release unemployment and child poverty regardless of that person’s race or rural vs. urban designation (Center for Justice Research, 2022).

  • Ninety-four percent (94%) of employers use background checks when hiring (Nelson, 2019).

  • Eighty-four percent (84%) of small business owners agree that Clean Slate policies will provide individuals with a second chance and open up the job pool (Small Business Majority, 2022).

More than two-thirds of HR professionals who have hired people with records think their quality of work is as high as or higher than the work of employees who don't have a criminal record (Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) & Charles Koch Institute (CKI), 2018).