With nearly 1.9 million health care jobs being added in the United States by 2032 and a growing shortage of qualified workers to fill them, workers with criminal histories represent a promising pool of talent that has been severely under-leveraged due to overbroad policies and practices that often shut them out of job opportunities. There is an important opportunity for policymakers and employers to reconsider both the value of workers with criminal histories and the barriers that prevent them from fully contributing to the fastest-growing workforce sector of the nation’s economy. However, over 7,000 provisions of law limit access to health care jobs for people with certain criminal histories. Only by revisiting hiring practices and removing the barriers that exclude workers who pose no appreciable risk to public safety can the health care sector harness the full potential of this untapped talent pool. This brief examines the employment challenges faced by the health care sector and how incorporating workers with criminal histories can help overcome these challenges, promote a stronger economy, and facilitate safer and healthier communities.

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