Get a job. Ex-prisoners hear that message all the time, from parole officers, from family members and even from other former inmates.

Barry Green, one of 20,695 parolees released from New York prisons in 2017, said he was reminded constantly about the importance of being employed during his four-month search for work. If he wasn’t going to job fairs or finding part-time work on weekends, parole officers “think you up to no good,” he said. “If you not going to school, you not looking for a job, how you making money for yourself?”

Finding gainful employment is the most effective deterrent to falling back into a life of crime, studies show. But felons have long been some of the last candidates in the hiring pool. Now, with one of the tightest labor markets in decades, some employers say they are more willing to consider applicants with criminal histories.

Legislative moves have helped. As Congress considers an overhaul of the nation’s criminal-justice system, many states, including New York, have passed laws designed to give ex-prisoners a leg up in the job hunt. And a 2015 federal tax credit has encouraged businesses to hire felons and others who face barriers to employment.