Criminal Careers and Types of Occupations – What Kinds of Jobs are Criminally Active Persons Typically Employed In?

• In Event: Crime and its Consequences: Studies Using Nordic Register Data

Abstract

Several researchers have hypothesized that secular changes in demand for labor – primarily the decreasing number of low-skill manual labor jobs and increasing number of service sector jobs - have had a negative effect on the labor market position of individuals with criminal backgrounds. Despite the extensive focus on the mutual associations between employment and crime in life-course criminology, only few studies provide information about the kinds of occupations that offenders are employed in. Using panel data on a 20% random sample of Finnish youths aged 25-26 in 2012, we examine what kinds of occupations individuals with criminal backgrounds are able to attain in the modern labor market. The key outcome of the analysis is based on detailed administrative data on yearly measures of occupation types (ISCO-08 classification). Unlike most prior studies, we provide estimates of employment outcomes for both men and women, and assess these outcomes in relation to both a) the general population and b) to individuals on latent criminal careers of different intensities. In addition to these between-individual comparisons, we use fixed-effects models to estimate the within-individual association between crime and later employment between ages 18-26.

Authors

• Mikko Aaltonen, University of Helsinki

• Frank Weerman, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement