CAMBODIA is
suffering from a short age of labour across all sectors of the economy,
according to Prime Minister Hun Sen, speaking at an opening ceremony at the
Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone on Tuesday.
The number
of workers at many of Phnom Penh’s construction sites fell significantly
following the Khmer New Year, according to same residential developers.
Borey New World’s technical
construction manager Tith Pheng said the recent lack of labour was because same
provinces celebrated Khmer New Year longer than others-even up to two weeks-and
same construction worker put off their return to the capital, waiting until the
transportation fees returned to normal prices.
“Cambodia’s low-skill labour market
is largely inadequate. Our site’s labour force two weeks after the Khmer New
Year declined almost 60 per cent,” he said, adding that he was not sure about
the trend in the third or fourth weeks following Khmer New Year, as some
construction worker might return with family members, while some other may
switch their workplace.
“In the past, people migrated to the
city to look for jobs, but when there are many job opportunities in the
provinces, they chose not to work in the city anymore because some of them
didn’t want to stay far away from their relatives and homeland. Though they
earned less, they want to stay together with their family. Some of them
preferred to migrate abroad as the fees are higher,” he explained.
“At our construction site, we offered
skilled labourers between $8 and $12 per day, while unskilled labour got
between $3 and $5,” he said. Another reason contributing to the lack of
labourers is because the gaverment “planned many infrastructure developments
across the country, like bridges and roads, and some other workers from Kompong
Cham, Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri decided to find jobs with rubber and cassava
plantation”.
Teuk Thla New World’s construction
supervisor Chum Kirirum said his company’s eight construction site required a
labour force of 4,779 people; however, the number available before the Khmer
New Year declined to 60 per cent of that number, and two weeks after the
celebration the number even dropped to 30 per cent.
Two weeks after the celebration, he
said, he didn’t expect that returning workers would rase numbers to the normal
figure like before the New Year, expecting that only 40 per cent would come
back.
Borey Vimean Phnom Penh’s Assistant
General Manager Ouch Pisal said there had been 505 workers working in his
construction site before the celebration, and only 30-40 per cent of that
number after the Khmer New Year.
“Those workers may return to their
work here because we always pay their daily
wage on time and some of our constructors are highly responsible,” he
said, adding that they would wait and see what might happen for another two or
three weeks, but confirming that they didn’t have a full workforce this week.
Koh Pich Island’s Elite Site
Construction Supervisor Chea Chheangly said his construction site required
1,500 workers; however, before the Khmer New Year, there were only 1,100
workers, which did not meet demands. He added that the number dropped by half
two weeks after that.
“Generally, the number of workers
won’t go up as there are many construction sites elsewhere around the country;
hence, the workers were scattered there as well,” he said.
Sok Sovanndeth, chairman of the
Cambodian Construction Workers’ Federation, said the labour force prior to the
Khmer New Year was falling, but the number would soon increase to normal. “Some
workers who returned to their homeland may bring along with them their
relative, as there is high demand for labour in Phnom Penh,” he said.
These problems have led to slowdown
in construction work on many residential development sites. This is partly due
to the face that most major construction development projects offered low
wages, which are not parallel with the increase in the price of goods, said Sok
Sovanndeth.
“Cambodian workers can earn only
13,000 riel a day, but if they work in Thailand, they can get at least
30,000-40,000 riel,” he said.
The Ministry of Land Planning,
Urbanization and Construction data revealed that there were 38,500 construction
workers nationwide involved in that sector daily in 2011.
Source: PhnomPenhPost
