These effects are exacerbated by imprisonment, which leads to loss of skills, social networks and work history, and intensified for job seekers who are Black, or Latinx, and for those whose convictions are classified as violent or sex-related. Beyond the economic, the personal losses associated with diminished career aspirations sometimes cut just as deeply. Work is part of our identities, part of how we make family and community, and it shapes our sense of possibility for the future.