Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of Oregon’s Ban the Box policy on the probability of employment.
- The study used a difference-in-differences design to compare the employment rates of individuals in a state that implemented a Ban the Box policy with the employment rates of individuals in states that did not adopt Ban the Box policies. Using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and statistical models, the author compared differences in outcomes between the treatment and comparison group members.
- The study found a significant relationship between Oregon's Ban the Box policy and the probability of employment for Black and White formerly incarcerated individuals, with a decrease in employment for Blacks and an increase for Whites.
- This study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to Oregon’s Ban the Box policy; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Ban-the-Box (BTB) Policies
Features of the Study
The study examined the impact of the Ban the Box policy in Oregon on Black and White formerly incarcerated individuals in the state. Ban the Box policies help formerly incarcerated individuals by removing criminal record questions from initial job applications, aiming to provide them a fairer opportunity for employment. The Ban the Box policy in Oregon was enacted in the private sector in 2016.
The study used a difference-in-differences design to compare employment rates in Oregon to other western states that did not adopt Ban the Box policies. The author used employment and demographic data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the years 2015 and 2017. The treatment group from Oregon had 11,804 participants in both years. The comparison group, which included individuals from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, consisted of 180,635 participants in 2015 and 177,068 in 2017. The author used statistical models with controls to compare employment levels among Black and White formerly incarcerated individuals in Oregon with those in the comparison states.
Findings
- Employment. The study found that the implementation of the Ban the Box policy significantly increased the overall probability of employment in Oregon. However, it reduced the probability of employment for formerly incarcerated Blacks and increased the probability of employment for formerly incarcerated Whites.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The author compared the Ban the Box policy in Oregon to several other states. Because the analysis considered a policy operating in only one state, it is impossible to disentangle the effect of Oregon’s Ban the Box policy from the effect of the state itself; this is known as a confounding factor. It is possible that some findings in the Oregon group were based on other Oregon-specific characteristics not included in the analyses. We cannot attribute the estimated effects with confidence to the Oregon Ban the Box policy and not to other factors. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the policy was implemented in only one state presenting a confounding factor. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to Oregon’s Ban the Box policy; other factors are likely to have contributed.