How about letting them go find their own jobs...like we did.
Because they often can't. They don't have any resources and they're convicted criminals.
Maybe they should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps but the track record of that isn't good.
It's in society's interest to have them reenter the mainstream because the alternative is usually more criminal activity.
It's not a matter of rewarding bad behavior, it's about lowering crime.