I just read a report on Monday that was devastating in assessing the impact of a criminal record on future employment and economic self-determination.

The new report, “Ex-offenders and the Labor Market,” found that in 2008 there were between 5.4 million and 6.1 million ex-prisoners and between 12.3 million and 13.9 million ex-felons in the United States. Over 90 percent were men.

In 2008, about one in 33 working-age adults was an ex-prisoner, and about one in 15 working-age adults was an ex-felon. Among working-age men in that same year, about one in 17 was an ex-prisoner and one in eight was an ex-felon.

Because ex-offenders face substantial barriers to employment, the authors estimate that the large ex-offender population in 2008 lowered employment that year by the equivalent of 1.5 million to 1.7 million workers.

Think about what this means.  How is this country ever going to get to “full employment?”  It is hard not to say that prisons are serving their purpose in a capitalist system by removing large numbers of able-bodied people from the labor force.  Imagine what the unemployment rate would be in this country if current prisoners were added to the mix.  This would be cause for revolution.  The powers that be don’t want that.

For more information about the study, click here.