What are current employment rates for Somali Americans by age and gender?
Executive summary
There is no single, definitive source in the provided reporting that gives a current, nationwide breakout of employment rates for Somali Americans by both age and gender. Available sources cite older survey snapshots (e.g., 2011–2015 employment share of 58% for working‑age Somali Americans and Minnesota figures like 47% employed in 2010) and a variety of more recent news and demographic pages that mention labor participation but do not present a comprehensive, current age‑and‑gender table for Somali Americans [1] [2] [3].
1. What the best available figures say — fragmented national and state snapshots
Several sources offer partial figures rather than a unified, current profile: a multi‑year survey covering 2011–2015 reported 58% of working‑age Somali Americans were employed and 5.1% self‑employed nationally, with Minnesota a bit higher at 62% employed and 5.9% self‑employed; a 2010 U.S. Census snapshot put Somalis in Minnesota at 47% employed, 13% unemployed and 40% economically inactive [1]. A private demographic site (ZipAtlas) reports various labor‑force participation and age‑group unemployment percentages for Somalis in the U.S. (for example, a labor‑force participation rate of 69.2% for ages 16+ and age‑specific unemployment numbers), but it does not cite primary government microdata in the extracts provided here [2].
2. Gender gaps have been documented historically, but current precise splits are absent
Historical analyses show clear gender differences: a 2000 Census analysis cited in reporting found 65% of Somali men employed versus 35% of Somali women in Minneapolis; a 2014 American Community Survey analysis reported labor‑force participation for Somali men ages 25–64 at 84% and women at 64% (compared with US‑born men and women at 81% and 73% respectively) [1]. The provided materials do not include a single, up‑to‑date national dataset that enumerates employment rates for Somali Americans by gender across standard age brackets in 2024–2025 — available sources do not mention a current age×gender table for Somali Americans.
3. Local data matters: Minnesota as the most‑cited case study
Reporting repeatedly flags Minnesota — home to the largest Somali community in the U.S. — and offers the most concrete local numbers in the provided sources: Minnesota figures in the sources include the 2010 census employment snapshot and the 2011–2015 survey that showed slightly higher employment and self‑employment rates in Minnesota than nationally [1]. Minneapolis‑area officials and coverage also indicate political and enforcement attention focused on Somali residents, which can affect labor market dynamics indirectly, but those stories do not include new, detailed age/gender employment breakdowns [4] [5].
4. Why a current age-and-gender breakdown is hard to assemble from these sources
The documents in this set either (a) summarize older census / ACS snapshots (2010, 2011–2015) or (b) present broad demographic or headline statistics without microdata for ages and sexes [1] [2] [3]. International statistics included in the results pertain to Somalia the country (unemployment rates, employment‑population ratios) rather than Somali Americans and therefore are not relevant to the user’s request about the U.S. diaspora [6] [7] [8] [9].
5. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas in the coverage
News coverage in the dataset focuses on politics and enforcement targeting Somali communities — for example, statements about deportation plans and political rhetoric — which can create a framing that links Somali immigration status to criminality or fraud in some outlets; local officials counter that most Somalis in the U.S. are citizens and that enforcement sweeps risk ensnaring legal residents [5] [4]. Demographic summaries (ZipAtlas, Minnesota Compass) tend to emphasize employment or participation rates to make community comparisons; these sources may have differing selection and estimation methods and do not substitute for raw ACS microdata [2] [3].
6. What a reliable answer would require and next steps
To produce a definitive, current employment‑rate table by age and gender for Somali Americans you need microdata from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (single‑year or multi‑year public‑use microdata samples) or an academic study using those files. The sources provided here do not include those microdata extracts; therefore, I cannot supply a current age×gender employment matrix from them — available sources do not mention such a table [1] [2].
7. Practical recommendation for the user
If you want a current, authoritative breakdown: request customized tabulations from the Census Bureau’s ACS (via IPUMS or data.census.gov) for the variable “place of birth / ancestry = Somali” (or country of origin) cross‑tabulated with sex and standard age groups and employment status. The cited sources confirm prior patterns and local statistics but cannot replace a fresh ACS query [1] [2] [3].