top of page
Anchor 1

Cambodia’s New Technical and Vocational Education and Training Policy (TVET)

   The new Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy 2017–2025 for Cambodia is outlined in this issue. The government officially approved it on June 16, 2017. The vast spectrum of TVET players, including ministries, training facilities, employer and employee groups, development partners, civil society organizations, and young people in Cambodia, are among those who will benefit from increased awareness of the policy. Better coordination amongst those engaged in skill development in Cambodia will be made possible by the new policy, which will direct the creation and use of skill development initiatives. The policy was created through a consultation process with technical support from ADB with the intention of updating and changing Cambodia's skills development system to better serve the country's future growth, as well as the needs of newly entering the labor force and current employees.

Key Points

  • Cambodia’s demographic dividend offers great opportunities, but its human resource base remains largely low skilled. It will be critical for Cambodia not only to improve education and technical and vocational training for young people entering the labor market but also to upgrade the skills of the existing workforce.

  • Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is indispensable to socioeconomic development as it produces skilled workers and technicians evolving and modernizing labor market needs.

  • The National TVET Policy will guide the government’s skills development strategies and coordinate all parties involved.

  • The policy presents a clear vision, goals, objectives, and strategies to develop human resources with the competencies and skills that promote socioeconomic development today and in the future.

image_edited.jpg

MLVT, RMA ink pact for apprenticeship program

Anchor 2
image.png
image.png

RMA Group and the ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for an apprenticeship program at the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT) in Phnom Penh on Monday.

To cooperate in the areas of labor, social security, and vocational training through the apprenticeship program on the newest technological training and public employment services, Heng Sour, Minister of Labor and Vocational Training, and Ngorn Saing, Director General of RMA Cambodia, signed an agreement.

Sour highlighted the benefit to the industry of increasing human resource productivity. Apprentices would receive training using the newest technological methods.

According to him, RMA will take on students who are still enrolled in classes and provide them with the chance to work with technical training centers. After that, they may collaborate and offer ideas to help create a curriculum that would meet the Kingdom's professional demands. As a result, they might help with training and fill in any shortages of human resources.

Speaking for himself, Saing stated that the new guidelines would give staff members the chance to pursue part-time skill development, which would be advantageous to both employers and employees. The trainees would be paid in addition to the work being accomplished.

 

"The largest obstacle is unfair competition, particularly with luxury goods," Saing stated to Khmer Times on Tuesday. "Taxes are paid by parallel importers using the government docket price, which is less than the real amount. The selling price is higher because the authorised dealer invests more and pays more taxes. As a result, some high-end brands exit the market.

According to Saing, the Cambodian vehicle market continues to hold 50% of the used car market, although the tendency toward purchasing new cars is quickly growing. In this sector, finance is also expanding quickly. Even well-known brands like Ford and Toyota have experienced the relocation of their assembly operations. The prospective market of the future will be the younger generation.

 

These factors show the country's car market will keep expanding during the next 10 years. 

MLVT opens foreign employee quota applications for 2025

Anchor 3
image.png

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT), which oversees the human resources sector in Cambodia, has begun accepting applications from businesses operating within the country to apply for their designated "foreign employee quotas" beginning in 2025.

The window for applications was opened on September 1.

The foreign employee quota system ensures that foreign workers comply with all applicable immigration, working permit, and visa laws and caps the number of foreign workers that any one business may hire at any given moment while operating inside the Kingdom.

 

The MLVT's quota system guarantees that businesses can use foreign workers, but they are still a minority when compared to Cambodian national employees. This helps the local workforce grow and develop and gives the local economy where the business is located chances for revenue.

All companies with foreign employees are required by law to apply under the quota system.

Additionally, the law places restrictions on foreign employees working for businesses.

Only ten percent of a local business's workers may be foreign nationals under the existing foreign quota system.

According to the regulation, the type of foreign workers that are employed by the company determines the foreign worker quota restrictions.

 

The MLVT's quota system guarantees that businesses can use foreign workers, but they are still a minority when compared to Cambodian national employees. This helps the local workforce grow and develop and gives the local economy where the business is located chances for revenue.

 

Non-Cambodian nationals working as office employees may make up to three percent of the company's total workforce; foreign workers holding skilled labor positions may make up as much as six percent of the workforce; unskilled laborers may only make up one percent of the enterprise's total workforce, per the regulations of the quota system.

 

The Foreign Workforce Centralized Management System (FWCMS), a one-stop window service that enables the quick online application for work permits for foreigners as well as the extension of current permits in the Kingdom, is where the company can apply for work permits after obtaining the precise quota.

 

Foreign workers' work permit payments are the hiring company's responsibility, following the Joint Prakas No. 335/20 March 2020 between the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the MLVT.

Businesses also need to make sure that all international employees have appropriate visas and residency permits.

Although companies are legally required to follow the quota limits, a Prakas released by the MLVT in August 2020 stated that companies may be permitted to hire foreign nationals above the 10 percent workforce quota only in cases where they are unable to locate a sufficient number of qualified Cambodian nationals appropriate for their business's operations.

In this case, companies that want to hire more foreign nationals than the allotted amount must send a letter of request to the MLVT explaining why they need to hire more foreign nationals than the quota because of unique business circumstances. The request should also include the employment contracts of all the foreign workers in question, which will be approved or denied based on the MLVT's final decision.

The MLVT reminds companies that employ foreign workers that the deadline for all foreign employee quota applications for the following year is November 30, 2024.

It is against the law to fail to register foreign employees, and the company risked fines and other consequences.

Through the Joint Foreign Workforce Inspection Team (JFWIT), the MLVT also routinely inspects foreign worker permits inside of enterprises. This can be done with or without prior notification to the management of the company

Anchor 4

NSSF membership rises to more than 2 million individuals

image.png

On June 30, the total number of members enrolled in the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT) has risen to more than two million individuals.

According to him, most members of the NSSF are workers, public officials, former civil servants, and veterans whose jobs require mandatory healthcare coverage.

The number of self-employed individuals enrolled with the NSSF among individual voluntary members has increased dramatically. Orn stated the figures demonstrate that more people now have confidence in and knowledge of the advantages of NSSF health insurance.

 

With over 1.56 million workers, over 430,000 civil servants, former civil servants, and veterans, over 170,000 self-employed people, and over 56,000 people in charge of households and their family members, Orn reported that the number of people covered by healthcare insurance had increased to 2.2 million.

 

“Since the prime minister officially announced the implementation of the Social Security Regime on Voluntary Health Care in November last year, the working group of the Ministry of Labour has been promoting it in the capitals and provinces and actively campaigning in factories, enterprises, houses and markets across the country. We noticed that number of people who are NSSF members is increasing a lot,” he said.

NEA provides 3,380 jobs for 17,535 applications in H1

Anchor 5
image.png

For the first semester of this year, 3,380 careers were made available to 17,535 Cambodians who registered on the job search website through the National Employment Agency (NEA) of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT).

The Secretary of State and MLVT Spokesperson, Katta Orn, stated to Khmer Times yesterday that over 4,000 individuals who received employment through the NEA are employed in a variety of fields, including industry, hotel, agriculture, and agro-industry.

According to Orn, thousands of young Cambodians who pursued employment on their own were left out of the database, and the figures only included those who looked for work through the NEA project.

Additionally, the MLVT Spokesperson noted that the employment data excluded the businesses that asked for labor assistance under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) program.

According to him, MLVT is concentrating on the development of skills and technical human capital in addition to growing its human resource base to serve the job markets and the manufacturing industry for export.

The MLVT Spokesperson encouraged young people who are experiencing difficulty-finding employment to email www.nea.gov.kh, call 076-232-378, or get on touch with the NEA administrator [1297 or 1286].

He emphasized that even if a young person is disabled or lacks formal education, the NEA is prepared to assist and support them in finding employment.

A day prior, the Ministry of Information (MoI) was notified by the MLVT Spokesperson that 3,380 citizens were employed by the project out of 17,535 applications that the NEA received in the first half of 2024.

 

He made the point that firms are in constant need of skilled and technical workers to staff industrial and manufacturing hubs, and that this is why there is a high demand for these workers in the current labor market.

 

"The Kingdom needed the labor force between 100,000 and 200,000 people yearly, according to the approval from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) in the last 10 months," Orn stated.

The CDC approved investment projects that employed 242,640 people overall last year, and in the first half of this year, the CDC approved projects that employed 168,000 locals.

 

According to him, the NEA's hiring platform revealed a tendency in tandem with the manufacturing sector's seeming oversupply of technicians and skilled laborers relative to other industries.

Expanding the Cambodian Labour Market in Asakuchi City (present by Hayliang & Prelsor)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Anchor 6
image.png

The Mayor of Asakuchi City came to visit MLVT in April this year, to discuss several collaboration opportunities, focusing on setting the groundwork for future partnerships in labor exchange and market expansion between Cambodia and Asakuchi City, with a focus on long-term collaboration.

Expanding the Cambodian Labour Market in Asakuchi City:

  • To achieve this objective, both parties agreed to formalize the collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with clearly defined action steps to ensure success.

  • The parties concurred on expanding the labor market through the Intern Trainee Program, Specific Skilled Worker Program, and opportunities for highly-skilled talent, with a primary focus on promoting the Intern Trainee Program.

  • Asakuchi City will conduct a detailed study to assess the demand for Cambodian workers in the city. Subsequently, Asakuchi City will identify and negotiate with 5 to 10 companies and factories to accept at least five Cambodian intern trainees each.

  • The city is considering establishing its own Kumiai (Cooperative) in partnership with the Asakuchi Chamber of Commerce to collaborate with our recommended Sending Company (PEA) and training center (CITA).

  • Asakuchi City will work on creating a support system for Cambodian workers to ensure their well-being and integration.

  • We proposed organizing a seminar for local businesses to enhance their understanding of the intern trainee program and the potential of Cambodian labor. Additionally, a visit to Cambodia for company representatives to meet with schools, agencies, and students was suggested.

 

Future Collaboration Potential:

Asakuchi City, with a population of approximately 34,000, has an economy centered on agriculture and small industries. If this initiative proves successful, it could serve as a foundation for further collaboration, including potential partnerships with cities or provinces in Cambodia. This project could also become a model for cooperation with other cities in Japan.

bottom of page