Cambodia Minimum Wage To increase To US $208 in 2025
Following negotiations between representatives from the sector and the National Council for Minimum Wage in Cambodia, it has been agreed that the minimum wage in the garment, footwear and travel goods sector will increase by USD $4 to $208 as of January 2025.
Initially, a USD $2 raise was approved by the National Council for Minimum Wage, but Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet increased the wage by a further USD $2 - this matches the previous wage increase which came into effect on January 1st 2024, when it was raised from USD $198 to $202 per month.
This was all confirmed via Prakas 211/24 on the Determination of Minimum Wage for Workers in the Garment, Textile, Footwear (“GTF”), Travel Product and Bag Sectors (“Prakas 211”) which states that for regular workers, USD $208 per month; and for probationary workers, USD $206 per month.
Other benefits to which workers in the GTF sectors are entitled remain unchanged:
- Compensation for a transportation or accommodation allowance of USD $7 per month
- Attendance bonus of USD $10 per month
- A meal allowance of USD $0.5 per day (or one free meal per day) for workers who work overtime
- Seniority bonus from USD $2 - $11 per month for workers in their second to the eleventh years of service.
At the start of the talks, workers’ representatives from the sector had been seeking an increase of $14 in the new minimum wage, while employers only proposed a $1 raise.
HR Committee Chairman Narath Chheav, who sits on the National Council for Minimum Wage, said: "I would like to congratulate the workers for this increase in minimum wage. This is the result of several rounds of discussions and negotiations among the National Council for Minimum Wage's tri-party members, of which I am one among the 51 members.
All actors in the sector have to play their roles in the harmonisation of the sector, by contributing to the improvement of worker's living conditions, productivity and country competitiveness to ensure the sustainable growth of businesses and better employment opportunities for Cambodia."
The minimum wage in the sector has risen by nearly a third since a decade ago, with the average monthly salary in 2012 at approximately USD $160.
This new minimum wage for garment, footwear and travel goods factory workers will take effect from January 1, 2025, onwards.
Southeast Asia Minimum Wages 2024
- Laos - The minimum wage was revised in Laos and came into effect from 1 October 2023 - the new national minimum wage is LAK1,600,000.00 per month (approximately USD $75). The Lao government plans to increase the minimum salary of civil servants to between LAK 2 million and 2.2 million (USD $91.45 - $100.60) by 2025.
- Thailand - The Thailand government has planned to increase the daily minimum wage to 400 baht ($10.84) from October 2024 (more than USD $300 per month).
- Vietnam - The new minimum wage in Vietnam, which came into effect on July 1, 2024, is equivalent to around USD $194 per month.
Cambodian Garment, Footwear and Travel Goods Sector 2024
The Cambodian garment, footwear and travel goods sector remains the nation's largest foreign currency earner and is estimated to cover 1,500+ factories and branches with approximately 900,000+ workers, according to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.
Ken Loo, Secretary General of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear and Travel Goods Association in Cambodia (TAFTAC). told B2B Cambodia in September 2024, “We are also the largest formal sector employing more than 850,000 workers now, and fortunately for us, the government has always paid high attention to our sector.”
In H1 2024, Cambodia exported products from this sector to the value of USD$6.24 billion which reflected a 16.4 per cent increase from the same period in 2023 according to the General Department of Customs and Excise.