THE SPITFIRE GRILL BACKSTAGE GUIDE 11 people recently released from prison receive an income that puts them well below the poverty line. Our data suggests that, in combination with a criminal record, race and gender play a significant role in shaping who gets access to good jobs and livable incomes. Almost all employed formerly incarcerated white men (the group most likely to be employed) work in full-time positions, whereas Black women (the group least likely to be employed) are overrepresented in part- time and occasional jobs. Conclusion One of the primary concerns for people being released from prison is finding a job. Exclusionary policies and practices—not individual-level failings of criminalized people—are responsible for these labor market inequalities. Fortunately, research shows that those with prior criminal justice system contact want to work and that hiring them can benefit both employers and the general public. For instance, a study of job performance among call center employees found that individuals with criminal records had longer tenure and were less likely to quit than those without records. The evidence illustrates that broad stereotypes about people with criminal records have no real-world basis, but convincing employers that people with criminal records are good workers is not enough. Improving the wellbeing of formerly incarcerated people will also require policy efforts that address the underlying structural sources of inequality impacting criminalized people across the United States. Race and gender In the general public, people of color tend to face higher unemployment rates than whites, while men tend to have lower unemployment rates than women. The overrepresentation of people of color and men among those who have been to prison, then, could have conceivably influenced the inequalities we observed between formerly incarcerated people and the general public. After disaggregating by race and gender, however, we found that the unemployment rate of every formerly incarcerated group remains higher than that of any comparable group in the general public. High unemployment among formerly incarcerated people is not simply explained by the overrepresentation of people of color in the criminal justice system; it’s the status of being formerly incarcerated that sets them apart. But the story here is intersectional. Formerly incarcerated Black women in particular experience severe levels of unemployment, whereas white men experience the lowest. Overall, we see working-age “prison penalties” that increase unemployment rates anywhere from 14 percentage points (for white men) to 37 percentage points (for Black women) when compared to their general population peers. Our findings mirror prior research establishing that both race and gender shape the economic stability of criminalized people. Access to full-time work When formerly incarcerated people do land jobs, they are often the most insecure and lowest-paying positions. According to an analysis of IRS data by the Brookings Institution, the majority of employed