Sincere question about unemployment in the Somalian community

[Phia86]

:salaams: everyone,

I have a sincere question as I am trying to understand what I have read some time ago. I was reading unemployment statistics from my employer Office for National Statistics and recent stats show the unemployment in the Somalian community is the highest at an overal 80%. Of all communities it is the highest. Pakistanis is second.

I would love to understand why this is. It is highest among women I understand that women are most likely to take care of the home and perform their Islamic duty. But why is unemployment high among the males, it is recorded at 50% from October 2015.

http://www.londonspovertyprofile.org...ntry-of-birth/

I have worked on this survey interviewing the people but we don't have questions as to why this maybe. Not that I can remember.

So can anyone from this community or anyone generally help me understand this.

JazakAllah Khayr

P.S. And no these are not manipulated there is strict monitoring on us when we go out to collect these statistics as not to lie and keep information as accurate as possible.

Edit: we did ask questions as to why they found it difficult to work, but I never interviewed Somalians so I never knew their answers.

[LailaTheMuslim]

Re: Sincere question about unemployment in the Somalian community

I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but as a girl of Somali descent this is what I've noticed
My mum says that back in Somalia when she was growing up Somali men and women both worked very hard , even extremely hard to put food on the table and support their families. My grandfather had two jobs, one in Saudi trading and another working as a policeman in Somalia ( I don't know if he worked both at the same time though ). My grandma had a fruit and veg stall and worked nearly the whole day and my mum and her siblings helped out. My mum also worked hard and had to go to uni to eventually support her family.
Then war broke out and most Somalis went to Europe to escape war and persecution by the Somali government. Here in Europe, you were supported by state benefits, I think because asylum seekers weren't allowed to work straight away.
Then people found it easier and you could have more money to support your family than working. Although many Somalis went to school and uni in their country, their degrees weren't recognized, so it wasn't worth getting jobs that didn't pay high enough and would clash with benefits. Two parent families were better off claiming individually or together than one getting a job and cancelling the others benefits.
The convenience of benefits was passed down to the younger generations who hadn't seen parents get up and work the day, so I guess thats my way of explaining it

[Phia86]

Re: Sincere question about unemployment in the Somalian community

I hope I don't offend anyone by saying this, but as a girl of Somali descent this is what I've noticed
My mum says that back in Somalia when she was growing up Somali men and women both worked very hard , even extremely hard to put food on the table and support their families. My grandfather had two jobs, one in Saudi trading and another working as a policeman in Somalia ( I don't know if he worked both at the same time though ). My grandma had a fruit and veg stall and worked nearly the whole day and my mum and her siblings helped out. My mum also worked hard and had to go to uni to eventually support her family.
Then war broke out and most Somalis went to Europe to escape war and persecution by the Somali government. Here in Europe, you were supported by state benefits, I think because asylum seekers weren't allowed to work straight away.
Then people found it easier and you could have more money to support your family than working. Although many Somalis went to school and uni in their country, their degrees weren't recognized, so it wasn't worth getting jobs that didn't pay high enough and would clash with benefits. Two parent families were better off claiming individually or together than one getting a job and cancelling the others benefits.
The convenience of benefits was passed down to the younger generations who hadn't seen parents get up and work the day, so I guess thats my way of explaining it

Thanks for responding. I appreciate the insight.

I was reading the analysis of the Labour Force Survey and it was suggested that many mentioned that language was a problem. They lacked of English. It was also mentioned that qualifications were not recognised.

It sad that there is. Culture of benefit dependency. But I see many second generations working in part times jobs now and wanting to go into professions. So I feel maybe things will change. What do you think?

[LailaTheMuslim]

Re: Sincere question about unemployment in the Somalian community

Thanks for responding. I appreciate the insight.

I was reading the analysis of the Labour Force Survey and it was suggested that many mentioned that language was a problem. They lacked of English. It was also mentioned that qualifications were not recognised.

It sad that there is. Culture of benefit dependency. But I see many second generations working in part times jobs now and wanting to go into professions. So I feel maybe things will change. What do you think?

yes I do think this second generation are trying to help themselves and their family. My mum tells me a lot of her friends children work alongside uni and help out at the home too.