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From left, Don Crane and Darcy Dudley chat on the porch of the Fellowship House on Wednesday. While Mr. Dudley has a job, Mr. Crane is finding it difficult to get a steady job.

After 25 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery, Kenneth Clay came to St. Joseph two years ago. He had a job in two days.

In today’s recession-racked economy, re-entry officials say that’s rare. A newly released convict’s job quest is hindered by few job prospects, distrust of felons and a lack of real-world skills — all challenges that widen an ever-revolving door to re-offend or violate probation and return to prison.

It is news like that that makes Mr. Clay, 56, thankful for a job wiping cars dry at a local car wash. Near the Christian halfway house where he rents an apartment, he sees men come out with only their prison papers and pound the pavement for months in search of a work.

“They come home and they have inadequate job skills, no GED, just prison skills,” Mr. Clay said. “It’s a hard time to be competing with other ex-felons for no jobs.”

The Missouri Department of Corrections says each year 20,000 inmates are released back into the community. Nationally, more than two-thirds of released offenders are rearrested for a new crime within three years.

Kent Simpson, a three-time felon and director of St. Joseph’s only halfway house, said the recession has really begun to hurt ex-felons’ job prospects.

“This is the worst I’ve seen it,” said Mr. Simpson, now in his 10th year at the Fellowship House. “They’re looking. Wherever they can go. A lot are just asking employers to give them a shot.”

Contracts through local temporary work agencies have dried up — the largest on the production line at Kawasaki in Maryville ended in December. Even landing a job at pork processing plant Triumph Foods, a once-reliable ex-felon employer, is hit-and-miss, he says.

Employer distrust of ex-offenders is evergreen. However, job officials say that relationship has worsened in a recession when employers can easily find a qualified candidate without a criminal record. College-educated ex-felons are especially hurt.

“There seems to be that higher level of distrust in those better jobs,” said Marsha Miller, supervisor with Turnaround, an ex-con support project by Catholic Charities in St. Joseph. “When you’re weighing felons with non-felons, employers typically go with non-felons.”

Don Crane, 29, says he’s been looking for anything full time since being released from prison in March. He spent 18 months in prison for burglarizing an abandoned home. He says he’s recently applied for about 25 jobs.

“Some employers don’t even look at the work history I’ve had,” Mr. Crane said. “Sometimes it just gets frustrating.”

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.