Are Cambodia's young people learning the skills employers need? The data show progress, and a gap that is still wide. More children finish school and test scores are rising. But most 15-year-olds tested are still below basic reading level.
What happened
In 2024, the primary completion rate was 91% (World Bank WDI, 2024). For lower secondary school, it was 61.6%, up from 47.5% in 2015 (World Bank WDI).
The road narrows at every step. In the 2022/23 school year, 37.5% completed upper secondary. For girls, it was 42.7% (Ministry of Education data, cited by the Asian Development Bank, 2024). By 2024, about 15 in every 100 lower secondary students were dropping out (15.5%, MoEYS Education Congress Report 2025, via UNICEF Cambodia).
University enrolment rose from 17.4% in 2023 to 21.4% in 2024, comparing students with everyone of university age (World Bank WDI).
Learning is also improving, from a low base. SEA-PLM is a regional test for Grade 5 pupils. In 2024, 39% reached high reading levels, up from 27% in 2019. In maths, high levels rose from 39% to 62%. Still, 37% stayed at the lowest reading levels (UNICEF Cambodia, SEA-PLM 2024).
PISA, run by the OECD (a group of mostly richer countries), tests 15-year-olds still in school. In PISA 2025, Cambodia's scores rose since 2022 by 18 points in reading, 29 in maths and 35 in science, while the OECD average fell. But the gap is still large. Cambodia scored 347, 366 and 382, against OECD averages of 461, 463 and 482. About 87 in every 100 Cambodian students tested (86.6%) were below basic reading level (OECD, PISA 2025).
Why it matters
The 2025 Labour Force Survey counted about 9.41 million people in the labour force (National Institute of Statistics, preliminary). By our own calculation, 72.5% have lower secondary school or less. About 8.1% have higher education, and 5.3% have vocational training.
People who went beyond lower secondary school are more likely to be unemployed. "Unemployed" means looking for work, but without a job. The unemployment rate is 6.6% for people with higher education, 6.1% with upper secondary and 5.5% with vocational training. For people with only primary school, it is 2.5% (NIS, 2025, preliminary).
For young people aged 15 to 24, unemployment is 9.8%, and 13.1% are not working, studying or training. About 76.7% of jobs are informal, with no formal contract or social protection (NIS, 2025, preliminary).
About 68.5% of Cambodians used the internet in 2024 (ITU estimate, via World Bank). But using a phone is not the same as job-ready digital skills. In 2021, only about 17% of upper secondary students had computer classes (ADB, 2021).
Who is involved
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) runs schools and universities. The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT) runs TVET (technical and vocational education and training).
Since it was announced in late 2023, MLVT has run a TVET programme for poor and vulnerable youth. The target is 1.5 million young people. By June 2026, the ministry reported more than 270,000 enrolments. By December 2025, it reported 79,285 graduates, of whom 51,591 were in work. No independent evaluation has been published yet.
Risks and open questions
The biggest risk is time. The World Bank projects that Cambodia's share of working-age people will peak around 2043. That leaves about 17 years to turn a young population into a productive one (World Bank, Cambodia Economic Update, June 2026).
In 2023, public spending on education was 2.18% of GDP, up from 1.23% in 2012 (World Bank WDI). GDP is the total value of everything a country produces. In 2025, education was an estimated 11.6% of government spending, a figure that may be revised.
The World Bank estimates that closing gaps in human capital (people's skills, knowledge and health) could lift future earnings potential by 68%.
It is also unclear why graduates are unemployed more often. The labour survey does not test this, and we found no Cambodian study that measures which possible reason is bigger.
What it means for you
A diploma still helps. But employers also ask what you can do. Reading, maths, teamwork, a foreign language and digital tools all matter, alongside the certificate.
Short TVET courses, apprenticeships and on-the-job training are other paths. University is one road, not the only one.
Different views
Is learning improving fast enough? - Progress view: OECD data show Cambodia improved in all three PISA subjects since 2022. UNICEF Cambodia describes the SEA-PLM 2024 gains as strong improvements. - Gap view: the same OECD data show 86.6% of tested students below basic reading level, and a large gap with the OECD average.
How big is the skills gap? - Larger-gap view: in the 2024 study by EuroCham, the European business chamber, 74% of 106 companies said it was hard to find qualified staff. Nine of the top ten skill gaps included soft skills, like leadership and communication (via B2B Asia News). - Narrower view: in the government's larger survey of 577 workplaces, 27.3% of those planning to hire in the next 6 months expected recruitment to be difficult. About 28% said some staff lacked skills, and the top reason was being new to the role (MLVT, 2024). - The two surveys use different samples and questions, so their numbers cannot be compared directly.
Why are graduates unemployed more often? - Mismatch reading: some qualifications may not fit what employers need. - Job-search reading: people with little schooling may not be able to wait, so they take any work. Graduates may wait longer for a better job.
Is TVET working? - Ministry view: the MLVT spokesperson says the employment results show the training matches job market demand. - Caution: no independent evaluation has been published yet. The same spokesperson also says the ministry must make sure private employers accept these skills.
About the data
- Labour figures come from the Labour Force Survey 2025, collected in late 2025. They are preliminary, may change and should not be compared with the 2019 survey.
- Primary and lower secondary completion come from the World Bank (2024). Upper secondary uses Ministry of Education data (2022/23), which counts differently.
- SEA-PLM (Grade 5, 2024) and PISA (15-year-olds still in school, 2025) are different tests and cannot be combined.
- Labour-force shares by education are our calculation. Internet use, education's share of spending and the 68% figure are estimates. The 2043 peak is a projection. TVET numbers are ministry-reported.
- EuroCham figures come from a trade-media summary; the original report could not be retrieved. The computer-class figure is from 2021, the latest available.
