The National Employment Agency (NEA) of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has announced that over 60,000 people watch with online and over 30,000 people attended the two-day National Job and Productivity Fair from October 28-29.

The NEA collaborated with the Phnom Penh Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) to organise the event, the year’s largest jobs fair, to provide employment opportunities for young people and students.

The NEA said 5,736 vacancies had been offered by 105 companies, with more than 60,000 people attending on www.carreefair.gov.kh and over 30,000 people attended the two-day National Job and Productivity Fair.

“During the two days, 150 ministries, institutions, companies, enterprises, educational institutions, development partners and national and international organizations participated in the exhibition, which brought more than 20,000 new job opportunities in key leading sectors,”The NEA said.

NEA director Hay Hunleng told The Post that the job fair had served as a large, one stop job forum. This made it convenient for job seekers, employers, educators and other partners. He added that the forum also created an opportunity for them to exchange and share labour market information to cultivate ideas about increasing productivity.

“The National Job and Productivity Fair is a much needed intervention in the labour market that we organise once a year. It is a fantastic chance to gather information and share opportunities, and complements the NEA’s day-to-day employment services,” he said.

Pich Sophoan, minister delegate attached to the prime minister and permanent secretary of the labour ministry, spoke at a seminar on “Promoting Skills, Digitalisation and Productivity” at the Job Fair on October 29.

“Through learning from the successful experiences of countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia, we aim to cultivate a productive mindset among all Cambodians, especially the young. We also want to encourage a change in the mindset of employers.

“From treating workers purely as resources, they should think of them as capital, meaning that they should be investing in their workforce regularly. This will improve their skillsets and allow them to respond to changes in the market more efficiently,” he said.

He stressed that productivity growth plays an important role in sustaining a country’s economic growth. It enables the national economy to produce more value-added products, while more efficient use of resources contributes to increasing a country’s competitive edge.

GMAC understands that skills and talent drive productivity growth, and productivity growth plays an important role in sustaining and boosting the national economy, which was why it had taken part in the seminar.

GMAC deputy secretary-general Kaing Monika said that this is a national job fair, so it covers all sectors.

“We are primarily involved in promoting the event to both companies wishing to recruit, and to individuals in need of employment. In addition, we co-organised workshops related to improving productivity. When we talk about work, we cannot ignore the level of productivity,” he said.