Sox,
That's really reaching there in that article.
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"In 2006, the most-recent year Blank's research covers, the 4.6 percent U.S. unemployment rate would have been 5 percent if people behind bars and in the armed forces had been seeking private-sector jobs and therefore counted in the unemployment statistics, she said. Among black men, the rate would have pushed up from 9.6 percent to 10.6 percent."
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Well lets see. If there was no military then sure all those employed folks (Service people) would be unemployed and looking for work. Duh. The thing is they ARE employed and in a career field they chose themselves. If there was a large draft then you could claim the government was skewing the figure by taking folks out of the employment pool but that is not the case is it. Particularly in the lower troop levels mandated by Congress several years ago.
As far as those in prison are concerned, the article has accuracy only if you assume the folks in prison were employed or wanted to be employed to begin with. Perhaps if they had been employed and a viable part of the work force they just might not be in prison now. It's far easier to steal from folks than go out and have a job and work for the things you want.
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"But not everyone agrees that the nation's high incarceration rate has an impact on employment. James Sherk, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group, says the unemployment rate is low simply because the labor market remains tight, with many employers seeking even low-skilled workers.
If people now incarcerated under tough drug laws had never been put into prison, the great majority of them could have found jobs if they had wanted them, he said.
Attributing the low unemployment rate to the high incarceration rate is "grasping at straws," he said."
