Youth and employment has been the topic for continuous debate among labour
economists and leaders. Existing studies has investigated the importance of youth employment
in the development of the nation; however, the issue remains the concern for most of the
developing countries. Because of low level of education and unfavourable working conditions,
majority of youth in developing countries are facing constrain in employment opportunities;
thus, they are more likely to fall in to low wage employment or they might migrate to work as
unskilled or low-skilled labour in neighbouring countries. Given that more of young labour is
trapped in unskilled jobs and low wage, the development of the nation would not be possible.
Therefore, this research study aims at investigating employment trend, the opportunities, and
challenges of youth employment in Cambodia. Also, this study reviews the existing of
employment policy in Cambodia and seeks for addition policy suggestions to ensure the full
employment of youth in Cambodia. The current study reveals that employment is still crowded
in agriculture, followed by service and industry. Youth employment fluctuates over the past
three decades but still remains high at the rate about 72 per cent of the total population aged
15 to 24. Low level of education, skill-mismatch and limited role of Technical Vocational
Education and Training (TVET) are found as the main challenges in youth employment, resulting
in low productivity. In response to the challenges, policy makers have adopted major technical
and soft skill development programmes Industrial Development Policies 2015-2025 by focusing
mainly on TVET to ensure both quality and quantity and to match TVET’s curriculum to
employers’ needs and promote its standard. However, the implementation of these policies
and mechanism in achievement measurement should be even more critically taken into
account.