Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back? ECONOMIST

[Samafal]

BARBER shops are excellent places for gossip. Hassan Ali’s place in Kentish Town is no different. The north Londoner arrived in Britain from Somalia with dreams of becoming a mechanic. But he was good at cutting hair: you do whatever work you can, he says. Most Somalis—Britain’s largest refugee population—do not work. They are among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?

In this section

 

 

The first Somalis to arrive in Britain, over a century ago, were economic migrants. Merchant seamen settled in cities with docks: Cardiff, Liverpool and London. As civil war ravaged Somalia in the 1990s, refugees flocked to Britain. In 1999, the high-water mark, 7,495 Somalis arrived (11% of the refugees that arrived in Britain that year). Since then, the influx has slowed (see first chart); it still leaves a large community. The 2011 census identified 101,370 people in England and Wales who were born in Somalia.

 

Poverty is their first problem. Over 80% of Somali-speaking pupils qualify for free school meals. In Waltham Forest, a borough in east London, home to nearly 4,000 Somalis, 73% live in households on benefits. More than 50% of British Somalis rent from local councils, the highest proportion of any foreign-born population. In nearby Tower Hamlets 2010 data showed that Somalis were twice as likely as white Britons to be behind with the rent. The cost of their economic marginalisation hurts them, and is a toll on the public sector, too.

 

Education looks an unlikely escape route. Overcrowded houses mean children have nowhere to do their homework. In 2010-11 around 33% of Somali children got five good GCSEs, the exams taken at 16, compared with 59% of Bangladeshi pupils and 78% of Nigerian ones. Parents unable to speak English struggle. They see their children move up a year at school and assume they are doing well (in Somalia poor performers are held back). Their offspring, roped in as translators, are in no hurry to disabuse them.

 

This helps to explain the pitiful employment rates among Britain’s Somalis (see second chart). Just one in ten is in full-time work. Many Somali households are headed by women who came to Britain without their husbands. Fitting work around child care is a struggle. Without work, Somali men while away their days chewing khat, a mild stimulative leaf. Awale Olad, a Somali councillor in London, supports the government’s recent decision to ban the drug. But others fear it will needlessly criminalise a generation of men.

 

Religion, however, is an overstated problem. It is true that, like their Bangladeshi and Pakistani counterparts, some young Somalis are embracing stricter forms of Islam. Amina Ali, who hopes to stand as an MP at the next election, worries when she sees girls of three wearing headscarves. People can respect Islam without being so conservative, she says. But religion unites young Somalis with other young Muslims, says Ismail Einashe, a journalist. A few are radicalised, but most are not.

 

This cocktail of poverty and unemployment dogs Somalis elsewhere too. In 2009 they were the least-employed group in Denmark. The Norwegian government is so worried about its Somali community it wants research done on their plight. Even discounting such factors as religion, age and experience, compared with other black Africans in Britain, Somalis face an “ethnic penalty” when job-hunting. Their disadvantages are clear. But Britain is rightly perceived as a country in which it is relatively easy to set up businesses; it also offers the hope of a warm welcome with its large Somali and Muslim population. This should bode well for Somalis.

 

Many are hopeful. Somalis want their children to succeed, so growing numbers are hiring private tutors (see article). In 2000 just one Somali teenager in the London borough of Camden passed five GCSEs with good grades. To improve matters, the council and others set up the Somali Youth Development Resource Centre, which mentors students and lends them books. Last year the figure rose to 59%.

 

Abdikadir Ahmed, who works there, says his organisation encourages people to put the entrepreneurial skills they learn in gangs to better use. He works with Somalis locked up in Feltham prison, a young-offenders jail. Their numbers are dropping, he reckons. Somalis played little part in the summer riots of 2011.

 

This investment reflects a deeper change. For years many Somalis kept their suitcases packed, ready to return to Africa for good, says Mr Olad. Firm in the belief that they would soon be on the move, there was little point in putting down deep roots, or encouraging their children to do so. But the current generation of Somalis grew up in Britain. For them a permanent return to Somalia holds less appeal. Young British Somalis still embrace their nomadic heritage. But now they seek a dual identity, able to flit between two homelands and, they hope, to make the best of both.

[Samafal]

I wonder how they collect their statistics while most statistics forms lump Somalis with Black Africans except some boroughs like Tower Hamlet and perhaps Camden.

[Hobbesian_Brute]

I think the fact that Somalis coming from a very rural background straight to the UK, and the fact that they are very observant works against them. nothing innate or peculiar to them.

[ElPunto]

Samafal;974172 wrote:

I wonder how they collect their statistics while most statistics forms lump Somalis with Black Africans except some boroughs like Tower Hamlet and perhaps Camden.

I too have doubts about how accurate the statistics are.

[Ibtisam]

This piece by anonymous is rubbish, statistics are made up for the most part and most Somali parents worked their a*ss off to ensure their kids took part in the opportunities they never had. That we have some kids who under performed or criminals etc like any other community is a given- but the writer is trying to connecting FAILING with being SOMALI!

 

MAybe the Economist could not tracked down any successful Somalis due to their poor research skills- I would be happy to provide a list!

 

Somalis in the UK should write a rebuttal and complain.

[Haatu]

^^Ibti be that as it may, it doesn't take a genius to realise many Somalis are failing particularly boys. The picture isn't as rosy as you make it out to be although it is improving.

[Alpha Blondy]

the whites will leave no stone under-turned, and no taboo, any less explored, in their heinous attempts to project these disgusting opinions. i'm surprised there's nothing about FGM on this article. when was the last time a Somali wrote about Somali affairs? this is a problem. i wrote one of my 7 dissertations on these same issues and despite fiddling about with the data, it wasn't bad, you know.

 

white researchers are digging deeper and deeper into our social underbelly, in the hope of dishing out further nonsensical propaganda against British Somalis. we shouldn't befriend them because it's quite obvious they cannot be trusted. they are not interested in portraying anything positive. only bad.

 

balse, for the most part, Somalis in Britain are doing terrible. we ALL know this. it's no wonder i left that pathetic little island as soon as I could. Somalis are disgusting. ruunti, they ought to go back to their countries. they are all prone to criminality, smell funny and have no loyalty to the culture of Britain nor understand British values. you have old pathetic islaamo, who despite being in the UK for 30+ years, cannot understand nor speak a single word of English. you have an entire generation of youth, whose insatiable appetite for violence, has left tax-paying British citizens unable to walk 5m outside of their houses. this is disgusting. they are obsessed with the affairs back 'home' because they are not interested in contributing back to the same economy they shamefully steal from and depend on for survival. this mindset, this vacant attitude, their incapacities, their deficiencies and socio-economic settings will forever make them failures. this is because they all live in poor areas with poor public services and very little prospects.

 

UK Somalis were once one of the most successful ethnic communities in Britian but thanks to the problems in Southern Somalia and the huge influx of Eurotrash Somalis, we are done for, now. in those early days, a sense of community pride existed and we were very much part and parcel of Britain's diverse and multicultural society. we were British and appreciated in its entirety what it meant to have passport-kii weyne but now it's a free-for-all. our community has been infiltrated by violent folks with strange practices and customs, customs and practices completely alien to our way of things. but that was before 2002. now it's 2013.

 

Somalis have made no intention to acclimatise themselves to their settings nor have they integrated because they are in a state of limbo. the sooner these people acknowledge their situation, the better for our collective will. one should bare in mind NOT all Somalis are the same. there are Somalis.

 

i'm afraid, if these trends continue, it won't be long before Somalis are............ '' ..........among the poorest, worst-educated and least-employed in Britain. In a country where other refugees have flourished, why do Somalis do so badly?''.

 

waa bila towfiq.

[Alpha Blondy]

Alpha Blondy;975323 wrote:

one should bare in mind NOT all Somalis are the same. there are Somalis.

Alpha Blondy;876855 wrote:

the difference between north and south korea has become very stark according to this article i was reading recently. to an outsider its fairly obvious these day of how to differentiate between the the 'peoples' of korea.

 

the north, according to the findings of this article still maintain a more formal korean language set. the school curriculum is based on formal korean, they're taught korean in a regimental way including reciting traditional korean poetry by memory. off course, this is infused with the current dictatorship's political sentiments but its also become a desired ideal particularly from older south koreans. the south due to its 'developed' economy speaks a more modern form of korean which the media encourages and the north claims has become diluted and can no longer be deemed 'korean'. some south.koreas also expressed dissatisfaction with the loss of identity and loss of culture, particularly of young people.

 

similarly, the physical shapes of the two koreas is another big change. the north is said to be gaunt (due to food shortages), fitter (conscription) and 'agile', where the south is developing a taller stature, changes in facial looks (more paler and the desired Caucasian look has seen the increase in plastic surgery). the proximity towards warmer climates at the lower end of the peninsula has also seen toning increase in south korea.

 

with the change in physique and the social fabric, the two koreas have become more and more different in a few generations. the also added the two koreas may experience a change in their ethnic compositions too and this may further lead to 'new ethnic' groups of koreans. change is certainly inevitable but with such major changes occurring within 100 years is largely unheard off.

 

i feel the changes in our recent history, particularly the trouble and strife years (1977-2012), may have serious ramification of our own culture.

interesting, maha?

 

your thoughts are welcome.

[Blessed]

*Ibtisam;975273 wrote:

This piece by anonymous is rubbish, statistics are made up for the most part and most Somali parents worked their a*ss off to ensure their kids took part in the opportunities they never had. That we have some kids who under performed or criminals etc like any other community is a given- but the writer is trying to connecting FAILING with being SOMALI!

 

MAybe the Economist could not tracked down any successful Somalis due to their poor research skills- I would be happy to provide a list!

 

Somalis in the UK should write a rebuttal and complain.

Various people are responding and this fact alone is an indication that Somalis have moved on. Most of the statistics being bandied around about Somalis are from the 90s and early 2000s and not a reflection of British Somalis today.

[Maqane]

*Ibtisam;975273 wrote:

This piece by anonymous is rubbish, statistics are made up for the most part and most Somali parents worked their a*ss off to ensure their kids took part in the opportunities they never had. That we have some kids who under performed or criminals etc like any other community is a given- but the writer is trying to connecting FAILING with being SOMALI!

 

MAybe the Economist could not tracked down any successful Somalis due to their poor research skills- I would be happy to provide a list!

 

Somalis in the UK should write a rebuttal and complain.

+1

[Wadani]

Alpha Blondy;975326 wrote:

interesting, maha?

 

your thoughts are welcome.

Very very interesting.

[YoniZ]

*Ibtisam;975273 wrote:

This piece by anonymous is rubbish, statistics are made up for the most part and most Somali parents worked their a*ss off to ensure their kids took part in the opportunities they never had. That we have some kids who under performed or criminals etc like any other community is a given- but the writer is trying to connecting FAILING with being SOMALI!

 

MAybe the Economist could not tracked down any successful Somalis due to their poor research skills- I would be happy to provide a list!

 

Somalis in the UK should write a rebuttal and complain.

Well, they have no interest to track any seccessful Somalis.

 

Those leftist buffoons never pass a chance to showcase their well concealed racist shots at anything called Black/Muslim (Remember ‘The Hopeless Continent’ frontpage!). Somalis qualify under both, so no wonder the barrage is directed at them in every possible occasion.

[Alpha Blondy]

Wadani;975491 wrote:

Very very interesting.

i see. what's interesting about it?

 

i was getting ahead of myself balse we ought to make considerations for difference, maha?

[Dhagax-Tuur]

Somalis in the UK should write a rebuttal and complain.

Don't know about complaint, but there has been a rebuttal. There has been a beautifully written article on Hiiraan few days back.

[Reeyo]

^^ Can you post it?

 

I've seen data from 2005 that indicated that GCSE results are really good 60/67%- Especially the the inner London schools. It is also interesting not once does the researcher mention any data outside London.