Cambodia increases monthly minimum wage for garment industry-Xinhua

Cambodia increases monthly minimum wage for garment industry

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2024-09-19 19:11:17

Garment factory workers buy food in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sept. 19, 2024. Cambodia on Thursday set a new monthly minimum wage for the country's garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 208 U.S. dollars for 2025, up 1.96 percent from the current 204 dollars, Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour said. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia on Thursday set a new monthly minimum wage for the country's garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 208 U.S. dollars for 2025, up 1.96 percent from the current 204 dollars, Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour said.

His remarks came after the National Council for Minimum Wage voted on a monthly minimum wage of 206 dollars for next year, which was then upped an additional two dollars by Prime Minister Hun Manet.

"This new minimum wage for garment, footwear and travel goods factory workers will take effect from Jan. 1, 2025 onwards," Heng Sour said.

Besides the monthly minimum wage, the workers will also receive other monthly fringe benefits, including an extra 10 dollars per month for regular attendance and an extra 7 dollars per month for transportation and rent, he added.

The garment, footwear and travel goods sector, the kingdom's largest foreign currency earner, consists of about 1,538 factories and branches with approximately 913,000 workers, according to the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training.

The Southeast Asian nation exported these products worth 6.24 billion U.S. dollars during the January-June period of 2024, up 16.4 percent from 5.36 billion dollars over the same period last year, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise.

Workers leave a garment factory for lunch in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sept. 19, 2024. Cambodia on Thursday set a new monthly minimum wage for the country's garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 208 U.S. dollars for 2025, up 1.96 percent from the current 204 dollars, Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour said. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)

Garment factory workers buy food in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sept. 19, 2024. Cambodia on Thursday set a new monthly minimum wage for the country's garment, footwear and travel goods industry at 208 U.S. dollars for 2025, up 1.96 percent from the current 204 dollars, Labor and Vocational Training Minister Heng Sour said. (Photo by Phearum/Xinhua)