By early adulthood, millions of young people have had early life experiences interacting with the juvenile justice or child welfare systems. While prior research finds that formerly systems involved (FSI) young people’ face lower rates of employment and lower wages, little is known about the jobs that they do get—their environments and conditions—and how those jobs impact their lives.
New research from the Shift Project shows that many FSI young workers face job hostility, instability, and toxic working environments that jeopardize their mental health and economic stability. As such, interventions aimed at improving outcomes for FSI young workers must acknowledge not only the social and structural constraints on employment, but also the vital role of workplace conditions, particularly employer policies and practices, that play a critical role in shaping work environments and cultures.
Key findings include:
- Formerly systems-involved workers often experience unsupportive workplace environments. Formerly-systems-involved young workers experience relatively few workplace supports, such as positive relationships, and high rates of workplace harms, such as discrimination and punishment.
- Workplace environments are strongly related to job satisfaction and well-being for systems-involved young workers. Workplace environments matter a great deal for the workplace success and personal wellbeing of formerly systems-involved young workers.
- Formerly systems-involved young workers report less supportive work environments compared with non-systems-involved young workers. Compared to their peers without a history of systems involvement, FSI young workers have less supportive work environments and are more likely to face workplace harms.
- FSI young workers are overrepresented in industries and at companies that tend to provide less supportive working conditions. FSI young workers are overrepresented in fast food, an industry which is known for more job instability and poor job quality. Likewise, they are underrepresented in some of the most supportive subsectors, such as retail clothing stores and grocery.
The report was authored by Daniel Schneider, the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of sociology; Kristen Harknett, professor of sociology at the University of California, San Francisco; Rebecca Wolfe, a postdoctoral fellow at the Shift Project; and Paige Prater, a doctoral student at the University of California, San Francisco. This research was supported through a grant by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.