TY - JOUR TI - Does industry sector matter? DO - https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-t9mx-2z69 PY - 2018 AB - Gainful employment is a crucial and normative force that can help individuals desist from crime and avoid repeat justice system contact (recidivism). Despite the importance of employment, people with prior justice contact are often unemployed or marginally employed in low-wage jobs, typically clustered within one of seven industries. This study hypothesized that working in certain industries would be more conducive to desistance than working in others, holding important variables like occupation constant. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and discrete-time hazard analysis with individual-fixed effects, this study tested whether working in particular industries was associated with risk of rearrest for adults with at least one prior arrest. Using Quarterly Workforce Indicator data, this study also tested whether greater job availability in industries typically willing to hire people with prior justice contact was associated with risk of rearrest. After controlling for a number of important time-varying covariates such as educational attainment, occupation, and criminal history, being employed in the construction industry was associated with lower odds of rearrest relative to being employed in the food services industry or being unemployed. No other industries were significantly related to risk of rearrest across the full sample. Subgroup analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the correlation between industry of employment, job availability, and rearrest by gender, age, race and ethnicity, as well as by offense history. Supplemental analyses showed a nuanced interplay between industry and occupation that differed according to the industry and the subgroup examined. Potential explanations for these findings, limitations of the current study, and areas of future research are discussed. KW - Social Work KW - Criminals KW - Recidivism KW - Employment LA - eng ER -