No Silver Bullet: Why the Civic Committee Is Investing in Job Growth

April 2026

Politicians are fond of saying, “Nothing stops a bullet like a job.” The slogan expresses an idea that feels intuitive to many: gun violence is a symptom of deprivation and desperation; therefore, if we create prosperity and stability, peace will follow.

But slogans are no firm basis for policymaking. Dig into the data, and the connection between jobs and gun violence is not straightforward. For example, most gun violence perpetrators in high-violence Chicago communities are already employed or have employment histories as discussed by Michael Sierra-Arevalo in a Cogent Social Sciences article. Network analysis of Chicago gun violence shows that social networks and group conflicts are often stronger predictors than individual employment status—violence frequently stems from disputes, retaliation cycles, and group dynamics that employment doesn’t directly address. Most recently, economist Jens Ludwig, the longtime Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab has marshalled evidence that violent crimes are acts of passion, not profit, and that policies that reduce economic hardship reduce overall crime but have little impact on violent crimes.

This research is careful and important, and it has direct implications for public policy and for private sector initiatives to reduce violence. At the individual level, the best available evidence says we should not expect relief of economic stressors to reduce the near-term risk of gun violence.

So why is employment in high-violence neighborhoods a pillar of the Civic Committee’s public safety plan? Because in formulating its public safety strategy, the Civic Committee took a systematic view, a long view, and a view from a particular organizational perspective. Once these imperatives are considered, the Civic Committee’s broad view of levers for public safety is clear and consistent with the research.

First, involvement in the legitimate economy is indirectly protective for at-risk populations in important ways. As Ludwig points out, drawing on prior research by Sarah Heller, teen summer jobs can cut youth involvement in violent crime, in some cases up to 50%. The biggest reductions aren’t necessarily among teens with the largest income gains, suggesting that the impact of jobs on gun violence may be centered on social connections and the prophylactic effect of having time occupied with legitimate activities. Health insurance and mental health access, which improve with good jobs, also correlate with reduced violent crime. Losing Medicaid at age 19 increases criminal involvement, including violent crime, especially for those with prior mental illness. Medicaid expansions in 2014 are linked to declines in violent crime; in Tennessee, a large coverage loss was followed by a 20% rise in assaults. These are powerful examples of why systemic disadvantage can be pernicious, and conversely, how a positive intervention somewhere—in education, mental health support, employment, housing, etc.—can ripple out to so many other social benefits.

Second, economic prosperity at a community level—as opposed to economic stability at an individual level—does appear to reduce violence. In Chicago, there are poor, violent neighborhoods; there are poor, safe neighborhoods; and there are rich, safe neighborhoods. But there are no rich, violent neighborhoods. A jobs initiative that, over the long term, helps to bring a community to greater prosperity would be protective of safety for that entire community. Understanding what makes poor communities safer (without first making them richer) remains an important policy question, of course. Neither issue should eclipse the other. And we believe that Chicago and its civic sector can invest in programs to reduce the immediate risk of violence for individuals and invest in long-term reduction of violence in communities at the same time.

Third, the Civic Committee formulated its public safety plan with a focus on how the business community could make a distinctive contribution to public safety. Employment and economic prosperity in communities emerge as clear answers. Nearly 90% of the jobs in our region are private sector jobs, and employers can remove practices that have historically created barriers to hiring, in particular for residents of the neighborhoods most racked by gun violence. Importantly, job quality—a family-sustaining job or better a career, vs. just a job—seems to matter greatly. Low-wage, unstable employment may not provide the protective benefits desired as discussed by Patrick Sharkey in Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence. And employers have control over the quality of jobs and career pathways they are offering, too.

Skills for Chicago, a talent provider partner in the Civic Committee’s Hire Chicago initiative, has catalogued the barriers that job candidates from structurally disadvantaged neighborhoods often face. These barriers include:

• Applicant tracking systems that screen out qualified candidates who don’t know how to optimize their applications;
• Lengthy application procedures, which in some cases result in drop-off rates as high as 92%;
• Long delays between offer and start date that cause candidates to accept other positions. One healthcare provider’s offer fallout rate exceeded 40% due to prolonged onboarding;
• Arbitrary degrees or diplomas that aren’t aligned with actual job requirements.
• Background checks that create unfair barriers, even when cases are dismissed or records being expunged, despite studies suggesting that 75% of people with one criminal conviction never get a second conviction;
• Human bias that compounds other challenges. Hiring managers make assumptions about commute distances and addresses in certain neighborhoods, and penalize resume gaps without understanding their context.

By streamlining application and hiring processes, removing arbitrary requirements, offering competitive compensation and career paths, implementing fair chance hiring practices, and auditing for bias, employers can create new opportunities for thousands of overlooked candidates and at the same time make their own hiring pools more diverse and competitive.

There is no silver bullet for reducing gun violence. Like long-term health—eat well, drink less, exercise—reducing gun violence requires steady, sustained habits that prevent violence. Employment is one of those long-term prevention factors, and an important pillar in the Civic Committee’s portfolio of strategies to make Chicago a safer, more vibrant city for everyone.