The government launched a new 10-year labor policy Thursday aiming to shift the country’s economy away from its reliance on labor-intensive work to focus on creating higher-quality job opportunities.
Despite annual economic growth of more than 7 percent for the past two decades, Cambodia remains heavily reliant on the agriculture and garment sectors and needs to expand its labor market into higher-value industries, according to the new National Employment Policy.
“In spite of these impressive successes, Cambodia has faced some challenges, particularly in improving people’s incomes and productive job opportunities in rural areas, addressing the shortage of high-quality and capable human resources to meet the needs of socio-economic development, and improving national competitiveness,” it says.
The policy, which has been five years in the making, lays out three main goals: “to increase decent and productive employment opportunities,” “to enhance skills and human resource development” and “to enhance labor market governance.”
The policy outlines steps to reach these goals, such as simplifying business registration and expanding internship opportunities.
