New Model of Industrial Skills Training in Cambodia: The "People" Issue in the Migration of Manufacturing to ASEAN

On July 9, 2026, the Cambodian Ministry of Labor and SCAN Industrial Services officially launched an industry-led skills training partnership. The core objective of this program is to directly link vocational training with manufacturing jobs, ensuring that trainees can immediately meet enterprise needs after completing the course. This initiative is not only a precise response to the shortcomings of Cambodia's labor market but also reflects the fundamental challenge facing the ASEAN region in the process of absorbing manufacturing relocation: how to rapidly cultivate a skilled workforce that matches industrial upgrading.

Industry-Led Training: From "Supply-Driven" to "Demand-Driven"

Traditionally, vocational training in Cambodia has been government-led, and the curriculum often lags behind the actual needs of the industry. SCAN Industrial Services, as a company deeply engaged in manufacturing services, directly participates in curriculum design, teacher allocation, and job matching, making the training content highly focused on the practical skills needed in factories. For example, the courses cover key areas such as machine operation, quality control, and equipment maintenance. The advantage of this "industry-led" model is that companies can dynamically adjust training content based on current order demand and technological iteration, avoiding the dilemma of "learning what cannot be used."

For Cambodia, this model comes at an opportune time. In recent years, the country's manufacturing exports have continued to grow, attracting foreign investment of $5.1 billion in 2025, a considerable portion of which flowed into garments, electronics, auto parts, and other sectors. However, uneven skill levels among the labor force have become a bottleneck constraining further improvements in production efficiency. According to reports from the World Bank and other institutions, the average education level of Cambodian workers is low, and the shortage of skilled technical workers is particularly prominent. The launch of the SCAN partnership marks the beginning of a systematic effort by the government and enterprises to address this issue at an institutional level.

Implications for ASEAN Manufacturing Relocation

From a regional perspective, Cambodia is not the only ASEAN country facing skills challenges. Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and others have also encountered human capital bottlenecks in manufacturing expansion. However, Cambodia's "industry-led" model provides a sample worth observing: by partially transferring training responsibilities to enterprises and leveraging their market sensitivity and technical expertise, the "training-to-employment" cycle can be shortened more quickly.

This cooperation has multiple implications for the ongoing "China+1" strategy and the restructuring of ASEAN supply chains. First, skills upgrading directly enhances Cambodia's competitiveness in attracting investment—when multinational companies choose a location, labor quality is one of the key variables. Second, if countries in the region generally adopt similar models, it will accelerate the overall manufacturing upgrade of ASEAN, enabling it to take on higher value-added production links. Third, under the RCEP framework, cross-border investment and trade facilitation have improved, but labor mobility is limited; improving skills through local training is more sustainable than relying on cross-border talent flow.

Challenges and Long-term TrendsAlthough the direction is correct, Cambodia's skills training program still faces challenges such as insufficient scale and limited industry coverage. Currently, it only cooperates with one enterprise. To truly change the structure of the labor market, it needs to attract more leading industry enterprises and establish a standardized certification system. In addition, issues such as long-term maintenance of training quality and the retention rate of trained employees also require supporting policies.

Looking ahead, many ASEAN countries are increasing investment in vocational education. For example, Thailand has introduced the "EEC model" to strengthen high-tech training, and Vietnam encourages foreign-invested enterprises to establish internal training centers. If Cambodia can take a low-cost, high-efficiency path through an industry-led model, it will not only help upgrade its own manufacturing industry but also provide a reference for other developing countries. In the process of building a regional economic community, the coordinated development of human resources is becoming an issue as important as infrastructure connectivity.