Cambodian students facing joblessness09 December 2007By Sophorn
Radio Free AsiaTranslated from Khmer by Heng Soy and Socheata“My name is Kuy Koeun, I am very disappointed because we were expecting that, after completing our degree at the university, like me for example, I studied in the administration of human resources, when I went to look for work in my field of study, I couldn’t find any. The majority of jobs require 2-3 years of experience. I looked for a job for almost one year already, since 2006.”
The deception and hopelessness after completing a university degree does not happen to just Kuy Koeun alone, there are several other university students, even those who completed a master degree one year ago, who claim that they couldn’t find a job yet.
Kim Ty expressed his deception, saying that since he completed his degree in 2005 in law, he looked for a job everywhere, and now he already completed his master degree in administration since the beginning of 2007, and he still couldn’t find a job yet.
Kim Ty explained the reason why it is so difficult to find a job: “The problem stems (partly) from the students themselves. This means that their education is not what the job market needs, for example, in the use of English, sometimes these students took classes also, but they never attend the class, when they complete their degrees, they cannot work. Right now, (the job market) demands knowledge, and even expertise. The second issue is a society problem, this can be considered as an economic problem also: the investments in our country are not functioning properly to be able to absorb the work force fresh out of universities.”
Suon, another student, claimed that he completed his degree in information technology two years ago, and he still couldn’t find a job yet. This made him lose hope and confidence in the education and the government.
Suon talked about his concerns on his future, saying that he should be able to find a job in his specialty field, and earn at least $300 per month. But, instead, Suon said: “Right now, I don’t have a job.”
Along with the hopelessness of their children, the students’ parents are also disappointed because their children completed universities already, but yet, they still have to feed them.
Seng, a villager from Leuk Dek village, Kandal province, told RFA with a sad face that he worked hard in the field to save money for his son to attend school, and sometimes, he wouldn’t even dare spending the money on himself so that he could send it to his son studying in Phnom Penh, because he expected that after completing his degree, his son would find a decent job. However, he is very deceived because his son, who completed university 2 years ago, sill cannot find a job yet.
Seng said: “It’s a difficult problem, because (I was expecting that) at the end (of his schooling), there wouldn’t be anything left to talk about anymore. In fact, my family struggled hard to have our son attend school, sometimes we didn’t even have enough money, so we saved to have him attend school. Normally, we struggled so our child can study, but I am extremely disappointed that after school, he couldn’t find a job at all…”
According to Roth Sokha, the director of the department of higher education, he said on 06 December that, each year, almost 20,000 students complete their university degrees, and among these, about 30% of them couldn’t find a job.
Roth Sokha said: “From what I see, the no. 1 problem is that when they apply for a job, their education is not compatible with what the job market needs, with that they fall once. Secondly, the number of job positions that can absorb them is too small, our (job) market is too little.”
Roth Sokha added that in Cambodia, there are 65 universities, 24 of which belong to the state, and at all universities, the Ministry of Education (MoEYS) directed them to abide by the standard of education so that graduated students have the ability to work to build the country in the future.
Mak Sarath, a coordinator for the Cambodian Youth Council (CYC), indicated that, currently, the number of jobless people amounts to between 300,000 and 350,000 each year. He said that most of the youths have no jobs because the degree of education was not high enough, and they don’t have experience, for example.
Mak Sarath said: “There is no job market, in fact, in Cambodia, our youths should aim their education towards finding a true job, not aiming at just obtaining any degree.”
Mao Veasna, President of the Students’ Movement for Democracy (SMD), indicated that out of 10 students graduating students, only 1 of them has a true job, and hundreds of students came to his group to ask to work for free.
Mao Veasna said: “This is an obstacle to the development of our country, because in a democratic country, people wouldn’t let their youths, the core of the nation, to remain jobless like this.”
In response to the issues above, Oum Mean, the under-secretary of state of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MoLVT), said that in order to reduce joblessness, the government is looking for a partnership with other countries that need labor force, such as Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong etc… The MoLVT had also organized a number of job training programs for jobless people.
Oum Mean said: “We provide training for people who have no expertise, these are ordinary expertise, such as hairstylist, engine repair, AC repair etc… so that they can find a job. Furthermore, for students who do not have the ability to go to a university for higher education, we provide training for them in centers, vocational training and professional schools. We provide three types of training levels: the general one, the upper one, and the medium one. Those who have the ability can pursue their training all the way to the upper level.”
He added that, in fact, in 2007, the government sent out more than 70,000 people to work overseas, among those there were people who have some expertise and those who don’t. The government hopes that by 2018-2020, people will all have jobs (in Cambodia).
Economist Chan Sophal, an economic researcher, said that joblessness is a step towards social problems, and Cambodia must effectively resolve this issue.
