States’ rules on occupational licenses are keeping Americans with criminal records from starting businesses, finding work and becoming full, functioning members of society, according to a new report from the Kauffman Foundation.

More than 600,000 people leave state and federal prisons in a normal year, and one year later, about 60 to 75 percent of them are unemployed, Kauffman found. If they’re able to find work, they typically earn less than people without any past convictions. Thirty percent of U.S. adults have a criminal record.

One barrier is that many jobs require state licensing and can bar former convicts from acquiring the necessary license.

The report recommends …

>> Preventing people from obtaining an occupational license only if they have a recent conviction, that conviction is relevant to the occupation or they still are a threat to public safety.

>> Creating certificates of restoration or rehabilitation that would allow people with criminal records to secure an occupational license.

>> Doing away with licensing requirements that bar people who’ve been arrested for, but never convicted of, a crime based only on the arrest.

>> Replacing occupational licensing with certification, which is less restrictive.

“Hundreds of professions that require occupational licenses could provide paths to economic independence for those formerly incarcerated, except for the fact that their criminal histories alone may ban them from receiving licenses, even if their convictions had no relevancy to the job,” said Emily Fetsch, research assistant at the Kauffman Foundation and author of the paper.

“Removing these barriers would benefit the formerly incarcerated and their families, curb recidivism and boost the economy overall.”