The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 581
“Unemployment of Khmer youth in Cambodia presently increases by approximately 300,000 young people every year. I5f the Royal Government does not hurry to effectively solve this challenge how to build up human resources and how to alleviate poverty in time, it will lead to a crisis.
“The president of the Khmer Youth Association in Phnom Penh, Mr. Him Yun, said that the reason why most youth at present cannot get a job, results, according to research, from the lack of an information system that would provide employment information to young people at schools, both private and public, and from the lack of information about work experiences, because different institutions and ministers do not care, making youth to take up subjects without much clarity whether or not they do meet the requirements of the labor market nowadays.
“Mr. Him Yun said, ‘If a large number of young people are unemployed, one cannot depend on them as an important national resource, so there is no proper income to support their living. Workshops at each university should also have a job section for youth at their university, and that section should make efforts to contact employers so that the young people have a chance to contact their work.’
“Similarly, the executive secretary of the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations in Phnom Penh – CamFEBA – Mr. Som Chamnan, said CamFEBA, in cooperation with the International Labor Organization – ILO – had conducted research related to youth unemployment which had found that the reason is the mismatch between skills supplied and skills needed on the job market.
“Mr. Som Chamnan added that employers or the private sector needs less people with management skills, but many students study this skill, while the market for manager positions is small, and those who study management will find it difficult to find a job when they have graduated. On the other side, for some skills there is a huge demand at the job market, but there is a lack of workers, for example, experts or technicians for the garment sector – but there are not many institutions providing training, and there are not many people who study in this field.
“An official of CamFEBA stated that, after researching to find the root causes of this problem, they published a report during a workshop held late last week in Phnom Penh, in which officials of some civil society organizations, officials of the Royal Government from the Ministry of Labor, and from other related institutions participated .
“The official said also that this publication aims to publicize this information for the general public, and to ask the Royal Government to help solve the unemployment of youth as soon as possible.
“Mr. Som Chamnan continued to say, ‘Especially the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Education have to be educated, so that they know the real needs of our job market, because there is no information available about the job market in Cambodia; this is the first research that provides ideas to create an education policy for Cambodia, in order that the educational institutions know how to create training programs to respond to the needs.’
“Regarding this issue, an undersecretary of state of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, Mr. Oum Mean, said that the Royal Government, particularly his ministry, has gradually helped to solve youth unemployment through different provisions of professionalism, but as for precise data, he does not know them, as he was not in the office at that time.
“The acting director of the Khmer Youth Association in Phnom Penh, Mr. Him Yun, added that nowadays, the Khmer Youth Association has made efforts to find ways to help young people to obtain jobs at different organizations and communities, specifically also helping to exchange work experiences with some countries like Sweden and Korea.
“He said also that after gaining experience, most of those youth are competent to get a job, however, the number of people that the association has helped is small; so they do not expect that this will help solve youth unemployment, but it is a burden for the Royal Government to solve.
“Mr. Him Yun continued that if the government does not carefully consider how to provide better information openly, like through volunteer services at different ministries, departments, or institutions, and by providing them experience at state institutions, also with the help from civil society organizations, it seems like wasting resources, since the youth is an important resource for national development.
“A Social Sector Officer of the Asian Development Bank – ADB – Mr. Ma Sophea, had reported to Radio Free Asia that the ADB is implementing an aid project with an amount of US$45 million – a big part of this is to help the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport.
“The same official said that the other US$27 million from the ADB for the period 2008 to 2014 aim to strengthen the quality of general education to increase the access for youth to education, so that they can get jobs more easily, as well as to build up the human resources in Cambodia for a better future.” Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #114, 11.10.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Chakraval, Vol.16, #2817, 10.10.2008
- The Ministry of Health Takes Action to Control the Operation of Private Ambulances [from different private hospital, because they compete with each other to get traffic accident victims as patients from the roads, causing confusion and sometimes leading to the death of patients]
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1765, 11.10.2008
- The Thai Prime Minister Canceled the Visits to Cambodia [and to other countries in Southeast Asia]
- Samdech Dekchor Prime Minister Met New British Ambassador [Mr. Andrew Stephen Mace – 10 October 2008]
- This Morning, the US Destroyer Mustin Will Moor at Sihanoukville
Note:U.S. Department of Defense, 2001: “Mustin is the 39th of 58 Arleigh Burke class destroyers… Arleigh Burke class destroyers are the most capable surface warships ever built. Equipped with the latest weapons, electronics, helicopter support facilities, propulsion, auxiliary and survivability systems, DDG 51 destroyers will carry out the Navy’s missions well into the 21st century. State-of-the-art command, control, communications, computers and intelligence systems provide their ships’ crew with complete situational awareness.
Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #261, 11.10.2008
- Yim Sovann: The Organization of the National Assembly in This Fourth Term Does Not Follow Democratic Policies [because of the loss of balances between the legislative and the executive]
- One-hundred-and-four New Advisors for the Prime Minister, Who Was Elected through a Package Vote, Are Nominated for This Term [15 advisors have a rank equal to senior ministers, 49 are equal to ministers, 31 are equal to secretaries of state, and 9 are equal to under-secretaries of state]
Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #114, 11.10.2008
- Unemployment of Khmer Youth Presently Increasing
- Duch, the [former] Tuol Sleng Prison Chief, Will Have His Trial in February 2009
- [Secretary of State of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts] Mr. Khim Sarith [responsible for the Directorate of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion, Assistant to the Minister for Cultural Inspection and Curbing the Destruction of Cultural Properties and Related Crimes] Installs Cameras to Control the Activities of Officials at the Ministry
- The Situation of the Garment Industry Is Not Good at Present [because there are many strikes, and some garment factories face a shortage of workers]
Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6470, 11-12.10.2008
- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: The Price of Oil Decreased to US$.77.38 per Barrel [on 9 October 2008], Dropping by 43% Percent, while the Fuel Price in Cambodia Remains ‘Stable’ [premium quality costs Riel 5,000 – approx. US$1.22]
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3585, 11-12.10.2008
- Siam [Thailand] Sends More Automatic Rifles and Troops to the Broulean Intry Region [where shootings happened some days ago – in the Preah Vihear area]; Khmer Troops Protecting the Border at the Front Raise Their Status of Alert
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Donor Countries Community Asks Cambodia to Speed up Adopting Anti-Corruption Law and Reforming Judicial System
Cambodia Has the Opportunity to Attract Foreign Investors, but It Has to Eliminate Corruption Urgently
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4713, 11.10.2008
- The World Bank Said That to Help Cambodia and Other Developing Countries [which are facing financial problems resulting from the rising price of food and of fuel] Must Not Be Forgotten [when dealing with other financial problems of the economically richer countries]
