Skilled workforce key to Cambodia’s sustained and resilient growth

Phnom Penh– A pool of workforce equipped with not just academic achievements but also with technical know-how is what Cambodia really needs to put the country on a path of sustained and resilient growth, said a new UNDP’s study.

Raising the quality of higher education is also becoming even more pressing as Cambodia is forging ahead with its industrial development agenda to prop up the economy against any future external shocks as it witnessed in the recent global economic crisis, said the study titled “Human Capital Implications of Future Economic Growth in Cambodia: Elements of a Suggested Roadmap.”

“This is the first time that we are attempting to tackle issue of human capital from the perspective of industrial development,” H.E. Ros Seilava, deputy secretary-general of the Supreme National Economic Council, said at the launch of the report on 12 August.

“It is a new step, good beginning which, despite challenges ahead, would allow the government to set better target for policy interventions than before,” he said. “The report doesn’t just point at the illness but gives prescription and roadmap to cure it also.”

The lack of competent human capital has been one of the main constraints in Cambodia’s effort to expand its economic foundation beyond garment, tourism, construction and agriculture sectors. Demographically, Cambodia also has the youngest population in Southeast Asia. Youth, defined as between 15 and 30 years old, make up 33 percent of the country’s 13.4 million people. An estimated 300,000 young Cambodians enter the labor market every year, but often they do not have the required skills to meet the needs of private sector, cannot take up available jobs and therefore cannot benefit equally from the country economic growth.  

In this context, UNDP, in close collaboration with the Supreme National Economic Council, conducted the study to assess Cambodia’s current educational supply and human resource needs.

The study identifies significant gaps between education and demands for skills. One of the underlying challenges, it said, is the curricula that are often unresponsive to the evolving needs in human resource in both public and private sectors.

Questions about skill-employment mismatches enjoyed a lively discussion during the launching workshop, which was attended by some 80 representatives of the government, development partners, non-governmental organizations, business, and university students.

H.E. Mak Ngoy, higher education department’s deputy director-general, made a staggering revelation about the current mismatch between courses provided and job knowledge and skill requirements. He said some 48 percent of the courses provided are business and management related while those that teach technical skills like engineering and agriculture account for only about 4 percent each. Such a disproportion, the participants said, should trigger a fresher effort to improve the quality of the higher education.

In her remarks at the study's launch, Elena Tischenko, country director of UNDP Cambodia, said Cambodia’s future development will depend on a pool of skilled and competent human resources who can drive the transformation further through diversification and expansion of its current growth base.

“In order to succeed, this ambitious agenda will need to involve a sustained programme of skills upgrading and higher education reform,” Ms. Tischenko said. “Human capital and knowledge will hold the key to achieving sustainable growth and taking Cambodia’s development to a higher stage.”

The report recommended that planning for future human resource needs be systematic and aligned with development priorities in the short, medium and longer terms. Interventions in the short term, for example, should include increase financial resource for new training and skill building programmes. Long-term strategy calls for reform of the higher education to enable it to fill mismatches between skills and employment. The government, private sector and development partners all have a stake in working together to produce “quantity and quality” skills for the future.

Asia is increasingly becoming the focus of future global economic growth and this represents an opportunity for Cambodia to benefit from. But the country has to be better prepared to do so starting now, Dr. Satish Mishra, the study’s author, said.

“Even if you want to copy external technologies, what is the minimum capacity do you need to be able to do that? So this is the discussion about the changing environment, about where future growth is expected to come from, and how that is likely to impinge on economies like Cambodia,” he said. “We cannot take a piece meal approach to this.”

And improving education curriculum is just one part of the story, Sandra D’Amico, managing director of HR Inc., said in response to a question from a student during the launch. The students themselves, she said, have a role to play in building the country’s human capital.

“It is not just the government’s responsibility to give you appropriate curriculum. It is what do you do with that curriculum? Are you putting it to practice? Are you learning? Are you applying it?” she said. “You have a responsibility as well to develop yourself.”

Click here to download the study and read its detailed findings and recommendations.