Overall, the weekly earnings of former probationers (€509) or former prisoners (€516) released in 2018 was just over four-fifths that of the total population of employees (€620) in 2021.
In 2021, three years after receiving a probation order, females (€343) earned an average of €177 less per week than males (€520) who also had served probation in 2018.
Re-offenders consistently earned less than non-re-offenders. In 2019, a year after receiving probation, re-offenders earned €405 per week compared with €457 for non-re-offenders.
Overall, the number of former probationers (+14%) and former prisoners (+19%) that were engaged in paid employment increased at a comparable rate with all employees (+14%) between 2019 and 2023.
Comparable indices showing the levels of paid employment for former probationers in employment fell by 23% when compared with 13% for all employees in 2020, following the outbreak of COVID-19.
| Probationers | Persons released from prison | All persons | |
| 2015 | 375 | 356 | 517 |
| 2016 | 372 | 376 | 525 |
| 2017 | 393 | 398 | 538 |
| 2018 | 418 | 424 | 553 |
| 2019 | 448 | 448 | 572 |
| 2020 | 477 | 475 | 589 |
| 2021 | 509 | 516 | 620 |
In total, 29,000 released prisoners and 38,000 persons identified by the Probation Service as having received Probation Orders from 2015-2021 were included in the study. The data matching process was conducted by linking these persons to the CSO's supplied administrative data by using a pseudo anonymised1 linking identifier. Overall, 86% of the persons were successfully linked to each of the years of administrative data. Although 14% of persons were not matched during the process (primarily due to insufficient linking identifiers between the datasets), the personal characteristics of the unmatched population were similar when compared with the matched population with respect to age, sex, and broad location within Ireland. The Background Notes of this report provide a more detailed breakdown of this matching process. In common with the wider population, not all persons are active in the labour market. This study is based on those who were matched to the CSO’s administrative employment and earnings data and were in active employment. The earnings statistics in this report are based on this cohort only. Table 4.4 in the Background Notes provides details of probationers from 2018 who were linked to administrative data but who did not fall into the earnings analysis for this report as they were not active in the labour market. Overwhelmingly, this group are linked to one form of Social Welfare payment or another, with the most prevalent supports being Unemployment benefit, Disability benefit, or the Additional Needs payment.
1 A pseudo anonymised identifier is a number or character string that allows matching between data to take place while at the same time limiting access to the personal characteristics of an individual which are usually associated with data linkage e.g. name, address, DOB, etc.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (01 November 2023) released Circumstances of Persons Linked to Justice Sanctions 2021.
Commenting on the release, Felix Coleman, Statistician in the Crime and Criminal Justice Division, said: "Today’s publication provides information on the earnings and paid employment of former prisoners or former probationers from 2018 for the three years prior to and post sanction. Additional insights are also provided for the employment and earnings of these persons by age, sex, and re-offending tendency. In summary, former probationers’ weekly earnings from employment were a fifth less than the median or mid-point weekly earnings for all employees. Estimates indicate that in 2021, three years following probation supervision, median weekly earnings (€509) were just under 18% less than the equivalent earnings for all employees (€620). Likewise, the weekly earnings of former prisoners (€516) were also less (17%) than the population average of €620.
Impact of COVID-19
In addition to lower average earnings, former probationers also experienced less stable employment. Although the levels of employment for former probationers increased by a similar level to that of all employees between 2019 and 2023 (14%), the estimates show that the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market was greater for former probationers in employment than on the wider population. In April 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19, the probation employment indices fell by 23% compared with 13% for all employees over the same period.
Employment Characteristics and Earnings
Younger age groups of former probationers or former prisoners tend to be paid a similar amount from employment when compared with the overall population of employees. For example, former probationers in 2018 aged 21 to 25 earned €429 on average per week in 2021, slightly less (9%) than the weekly pay of all persons (€472). In contrast, former probationers aged 41 to 50 in the same year earned €617 a week, 20% less than the pay received by all employees in the same age category (€768).
Females that were released from prison in 2018 experienced the largest drop in earnings following release. Their earnings in 2019 (€226), a year following release, were 43% lower than in 2018 (€399) although females typically make up just 8% of the prison release population.
Former prisoners or former probationers that were linked to re-offending within a year of discharge tended to earn less from employment. For example, in 2021, three years after receiving probation, those who re-offended within one year of probation (€455) earned on average €69 less a week than those not linked to a further conviction (€524 per week).”