Prison releases are at an all-time high in the United States, and many of those leaving prison are looking for jobs just as the country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. What to do? Some on the left call for public job creation programs, while voices on the right suggest mandatory work programs for parolees and men with unpaid child support. Beyond the usual partisan divides, work remains an appealing possibility for reducing social ills such as repeat crimes and drug use.

But do job creation programs work? Past projects have sometimes been labeled failures because they did not magically catapult poor people with problematic histories into sobriety and middle-class success. That is an unrealistic expectation, but perhaps jobs programs can make some measurable difference, such as lowering crime. more...