Hello, I'm Tamerson Ford. Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. Unemployment rates in the US and the UK are at their lowest in decades. In the States, there are more jobs than applicants. Yet for the millions of former criminals, they can't even get an interview. Employers really do worry about hiring someone with a criminal record.

They worry that people with a record will be less productive on the job.

Maybe they'll be more likely to commit a crime when they're on the job.

One way to tackle this?

Scrap job interviews altogether.

The way it works is that we give people who want to work a job,

no questions asked, no background checks and no interview. Today, we're exploring how employers

are helping ex-offenders get back into work. That's all in Business Daily from the BBC.

Ex-offenders in the United States are five times more likely to be unemployed than the general

population. And without a job, the chances of re-offending skyrocket. Unemployment rates for

former prisoners in Europe aren't quite as severe as in the States,

but a criminal record anywhere is still a massive barrier to finding paid work

once you step out of those prison gates.

Ali Nias from London was just 20 when he was released from jail.

He spoke to my colleague Manuel Seragosa on Business Daily about his story.

I was originally in prison for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

I grew up in inner city, south-west London.

In a household of first-generation immigrants,

so seeing my parents struggle and wanting material things led me to go outside and

seek how I could access these material things. So I started selling cannabis and then that

evolved into selling Class A drugs, which then obviously led to my prison sentence.

Ali is now 35. He served two of a four-year sentence and then went on to build a successful career as an international music entrepreneur.

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