Using a holistic interview instrument, data were collected on 92 Federal male prisoners. The employment status dichotomy (whether an inmate was or was not employed at the time of arrest) indicates many differences between the two groups regarding education, family and community variables, drug and alcohol use, imprisonment histories, employment histories, and attitudes concerning work. In the employed group, 36.7 percent did not graduate from high school compared to 74.2 percent of the unemployed sample. The two groups are similar regarding current age, age at current imprisonment, conviction offense, and armed forces experience. Although whites are roughly the same percentage in the two groups, Blacks are a larger proportion of the employed sample. Although the unemployed sample was more likely to have made money illegally in the month before arrest, of those who did make illegal money, the employed sample made more. The quality of employment is the most important single factor correlated highly with parole success. Tables, references