Cambodia Garment and Footwear Sector Bulletin, Issue 8, December 2018

This Bulletin highlights that the social and economic importance of the Garment, Textile and Footwear (GTF) sector in Cambodia remains high. The GTF sector in Cambodia directly generates employment for around one million workers, nearly 80 per cent of whom are women. The GTF sector in Cambodia directly provides income to support one-in-five Cambodian households. On average, workers in the GTF sector in Cambodia earn a monthly income above the minimum wage with female workers in the GFT sector earning approximately 87 per cent of the income of male GFT workers. Ahead of other economic sectors in Cambodia where the majority of the workforce are either own-account workers or contributing family members, the GTF sector provides regular employment and income to more than 90 per cent of the sector’s total workforce. Demographically, the GTF workforce in Cambodia is – on average – young, literate and highly feminized: Four-out-of-five GTF workers in Cambodia are under the age of 35, more than 90 per cent of the GTF workforce can read, and for every GTF household in Cambodia headed by a male GTF worker, there is nearly an equal number of GTF households that are headed by female GTF workers.