Cambodia has been facing labor shortages in sectors such as agriculture, construction and industry, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday, calling employers to pay more attention to employees' well-being and salaries.
"The country currently is facing the shortages of laborers everywhere, especially in agriculture, construction and industry," he told about 1,000 laborers at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port on the Labor Day celebration.
The port is situated some 230 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
He said in order to tackle the labor scarcity, investors should pay more attention to their workers through building dormitories for them and offering them competitive salaries.
"In the agriculture sector, a worker is paid up to 3 U.S. dollars and three meals a day. Yet it is still difficult to find doers," he said.
Meanwhile, Hun Sen also asked Cambodians who plan to illegally cross border for employment in Thailand to give up this kind of plan and turn their eyes on local jobs.
"It is not a good way to work illegally in another country. Of course, you get higher pay in Thailand, but you enter that country illegally and live away from your families," he said. "It is better that we work in our own country."
Some 250,000 Cambodian laborers have been working illegally in Thailand doing low-skilled jobs in agriculture, fisheries and construction sectors, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters in January after a meeting with his Thai counterpart Surapong Tovichakchakul.
He added that thanks to the two countries' good cooperation, some 90,000 of them have been provided legally working permits.