Job Market Still Limited in Cambodia

By Soy Sophea

Cambodian officials, youth association officers and lecturers worry about Cambodia’s
future development if the younger generation continues to find work in services or industries in which they have little experience and no educational background.

The problem has been exercising minds in the highest ranks of government in Cambodia.
The Prime Minister Hun Sen advised students during a diploma distribution ceremony to students at the Phnom Penh Royal University on March 5 that in the free market, work was hard to find. “If students do not study hard, they will not get a decent job,” said the Prime Minister. “You [the students] have to be skilled and talented; otherwise you will experience trouble finding work.”

Chea Se, Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, said the country would not develop smoothly if the students found jobs for which they had not been trained. He recognized that this trend dated back to the 1980s when he was young.
The Under Secretary of State for Education said, “I have been concerned about this for many years and yet the situation has remained the same. Our society will not develop along rational lines if our human resources are trained for one task, but performing another,” he added.

Mak Sarath, head of the Youth Council of Cambodia, agreed that there was no choice for Cambodian youth. He raised the example of medical students who were unable to find work in hospitals and consequently found employment as accountants or marketers/distributors.

Sarath said, “They [students] have no choice to work in the field that they have learnt.”
Commenting on this issue, a foreign English teacher, who asked not to be named, voiced concern for Cambodian students and their permanent employability when they found jobs away from their fields of study.

The teacher added that students in this category could only hope to command low wages.
The Under Secretary of State for Education Chea Se explained that this phenomenon was a result of the needs of students to support their families.

He pointed out that there are a limited number of subjects studied at universities that may guarantee immediate employment in a closely related field, such as engineering and education. However, other fields are not so relevant to Cambodia’s current job market needs, even though the student may study marketing, business, or accounting.

Under current conditions, only one in ten students is employed, said Mak Sarath, quoting a recent Youth Star of Cambodia report. And the job that one student got is in a different
fi eld of study.

Bun Reoun, who studies general English at diploma level, said that he had lost confidence since he found a job away from his study subject. He added that he had just dropped his third-year bachelor decree in management to work as a shoe designer
for a Pilipino factory in Phnom Penh.

He said he regretted that he chose to work away from his study subject, adding that there was no choice as he wanted money to maintain his study. However, he said everything
had changed, with no real job, no real money and no more study.

He said, “I am now unemployed. I need money to continue my study, so I do not mind whatever job I do.”

A 25-year-old Student Chan Sotra looked happier because he had managed to find a job related to his study background. Sotra, who holds a bachelor decree in tourism management, said that he was lucky to get a job related to his study background at the university.

He added that he had started working as a tour operator with a local tour company since he was a third-year college student. Sotra said, “I am very happy with my job and my study.”

He added that, “We should work with what we have studied. Even though we might get a lower salary in the beginning, we will get higher pay later on.”

He added that working within the study field is more enjoyable and has provided him with much experience. Working as tour operator, he has traveled extensively in the Asia
Pacific region, Thailand, Laos PDR, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States.