A Path to a Better Future

By William E. Todd, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia 

Last week I met with my Youth Council, a group of impressive young people who care about Cambodia and, like me, want to see more and better opportunities for the youth of this country.  All of them have made a commitment to be dedicated students and conscientious young professionals, and I deeply value their views, thoughts, and ideas.  When we meet, we discuss many issues, and one that comes up frequently is finding good jobs.  Even with a good education and a university degree, it remains difficult to find a high-skilled, well-paying job.  This is a gap that demands our attention because understanding how to bridge that gap will provide a roadmap for the long-term success of Cambodia.

Bridging the gap between education and jobs – creating a path to a better future – is not simple, yet it is possible.  If we can expand on the successes of the past, while being creative with new ideas for the future, we can succeed.  Successes include improvements in the educational sector, where dramatic increases in enrollment of Cambodians in primary and secondary schools are raising the overall educational level in the country.  The U.S. government is supporting the upward trend in school attendance by investing $10 million to enhance the quality and accessibility of education among girls, the very poor, and minorities in Cambodia. 

More and more Cambodians are receiving a good education.  This is a wonderful trend, as it indicates that more young Cambodians and their families are making education a priority, often sacrificing to attend classes and learn a profession, even taking on two and three jobs to pay their expenses and support their families. Developing an educated populace is absolutely necessary to bring higher-paying jobs to Cambodia, and I commend the efforts and successes achieved. 

Though more Cambodians are attending university, frequently there is a lack of connection between the courses of study and the job market.  Many Cambodian students have great hopes for their college degrees in the fields of accounting, business, or information technology, only to find very few available jobs for specialists in those fields.  This is the gap to bridge.  Cambodia and the United States will continue to work together to promote education, but I also want to focus on increasing higher-paying, higher-skilled jobs.

One path to bridge the gap is to promote the type of foreign investment that will bring well-paying jobs to Cambodia.  I have spoken about this issue in a recent column about my trips to Thailand and Singapore, where I promoted investment opportunities in Cambodia.  As I explained then, as Cambodia progresses to meet its challenges related to the rule of law and the protection of human rights, more and more U.S. companies will bring their businesses to Cambodia.  Attracting the right kind of investment is one of the keys to creating the path to better job opportunities for young Cambodians. 

I will give you some examples of the type of investment I’m talking about.  First is a factory built and operated by a U.S. company in Sihanoukville.  This factory manufactures apparel, but unlike many apparel factories that focus only on sewing the cloth, this factory manufactures apparel from the creation of the fibers to making the cloth to finally sewing the cloth into garments.  This means that the factory’s revenue is more resilient in the face of market changes, it has a more diversified workforce, and its employees have more opportunities to move up in the company and make better wages.  Another example is the Ford assembly plant in Sihanoukville.  A few years ago no one thought Cambodia’s workforce could sustain an automobile assembly sector, but with the right investors making the right decisions, higher-skilled jobs are coming to Cambodia.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Much more is possible as we create the right conditions to attract U.S. companies and other responsible investors.

Another important part of building the path to better jobs is working to ensure that young, smart Cambodians have opportunities to study abroad, and that they return to Cambodia to apply what they have learned.  More and more Cambodians are completing their college educations in countries where they can get the very best preparation for success.  I encourage this, especially when it comes to attending a college or university in the United States.  In the U.S., Cambodian students receive the best education available while also gaining the critical thinking skills essential to be business owners and innovators, as well as high-level employees and managers in new and diverse industries.

When I meet with young people in Cambodia I am struck by their hard work, their love for their country, and their earnest desire to succeed.  Their attitudes are a great encouragement to me, but what happens when the most earnest students succeed in school but cannot find opportunities to succeed in a good job and a career?  I believe that government, private business, and civil society working together can find creative solutions to bridge that gap.  At the U.S. Embassy, we are striving to do that.

Thank you for taking the time to read my column this week.  I encourage you to send me your questions in English or Khmer at AskAMBToddPP@state.gov and to follow my blog at http://blogs.usembassy.gov/todd/.

William E. Todd is U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia