The review of economic literature focuses on two competing explanations of employment and crime relationships: the economic model of crime developed by neoclassical economists and the more structural approach of segmented labor market theorists. The review of sociological literature encompasses various third factors (family, education, and age) that have been viewed as qualifying the relationship between employment and crime. Structure of opportunity theory and subcultural literature related to employment and crime issues are also considered. Finally, surveys of early manpower program evaluations in a criminal justice context and recent major impact evaluations are reviewed. The literature reviewed reinforces the view that diverse employment and crime relationships exist and that each relationship requires separate and close scrutiny. Unemployment can lead to crime, but crime can also accompany a pattern of intermittent spells of low-level employment, unemployment, and dropout from the labor force. In some circumstances, the labor force status and criminal involvement of a person may be predominantly influenced by noneconomic life events and factors, such as dropping out from school, declining parental influence, peer pressure, household formation, and residential mobility. Even in these circumstances, however, entry into the labor market and into employment, if it is available, may crystallize and make effective other stabilizing influences in the life situation of a maturing youth. Overall, the literature reviewed discloses a multiplicity of competing explanatory factors relating unemployment and crime at the individual, group, and aggregate levels. Fifty footnotes and 130 bibliographic entries are provided.