Educational and skill-building programs are commonplace in prisons and have been the focus of recent prominent policy initiatives. These educational programs are expected to increase prisoners’ post-release employability, with the hope that these lead to both private and public benefits. One of the most popular programs prepares prisoners to pass the GED exam, which is an academic certification for those without a high-school diploma. We analyze the labor market returns to a GED earned in prison using new administrative data on all released prisoners in the state of Missouri over nearly 25 years, and a matched comparison group difference-in-differences design with individual fixed effects. We find that the GED can lead to higher short-term quarterly earnings and employment, with the largest benefits experienced soon after release. These effects are strongest for those who did not have strong work histories prior to entering prison and for those who had access to post-release support. We also find that the effect of the GED is of a similar magnitude for White and Black formerly incarcerated individuals.

教育和技能建设计划在监狱中司空见惯，并已成为近期重要政策举措的重点。这些教育计划有望提高囚犯的释放后就业能力，并希望这些计划能带来私人和公共利益。最受欢迎的程序之一是使囚犯通过GED考试，这是对没有高中文凭的人的一种学历证明。我们使用密苏里州近25年内所有已释放囚犯的新管理数据，以及匹配的具有不同固定影响的比较组差异设计，分析了在监狱中获得的GED的劳动力市场回报。我们发现，GED可以带来更高的短期季度收入和就业机会，并且在发布后很快就会获得最大的收益。对于那些在入狱前没有丰富工作经验的人以及那些获得释放后支持的人来说，这些影响最为明显。我们还发现，对于白人和黑人先前被监禁的个人，GED的作用具有相似的程度。