Desperate for workers, firms plan to hire people even with criminal records

A labour shortage has pushed more employers to recruit employees who have served prison time, reports the WSJ.

In recent years, small businesses and big US companies including banks and pharmacy chains say they have recognised that so-called second-chance hiring offers a chance to ease societal inequities. It also helps them find more workers in a tight job market.

Union Pacific Corporation in the spring started hiring people who had been incarcerated.

Railroads have been struggling with service issues they say have been caused by worker shortages, and in september struck a labour deal to avoid a nationwide strike.

The company has been recruiting