Why People Move to Phnom Penh

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The population in Phnom Penh increases rapidly in the last decade, and large portion of population growth is the result from internal migration. About 50 percent of people living in rural areas leave their hometown and dwell in Phnom Penh. So, is Phnom Penh a land of opportunity where rural-urban migrants are able to make their dream become reality? People moving to Phnom Penh assume that living in the zone of economic development will be a good chance for them to enhance their living condition and understanding. People move to city due to two important reasons which offer them an opportunity to make their life better than they live in lonesome areas. The first reason why people move to Phnom Penh is to find a reasonable-paid job. Because Phnom Penh is a central business and industrial zone, where demands many both skilled and unskilled labor forces to supply with the instant economic growth, the waged employment opportunities induces massive numbers of people living in rural areas to migrate to Phnom Penh. Furthermore, there are various types of occupations such as garment workers, construction workers, and servants which people can opt to do based on their qualification and ability. For example, in the last ten years, garment industry alone created more than 250,000 jobs to female workers (Abella 2005; Acharya 2003; Maltoni 2007, Webster 2004). From this figure, it indicates that employment in Phnom Penh city is a pull factor that enforces people to leave from their hometown to find decent jobs in the city. Another crucial reason why people withdraw from their hometown is to pursue higher education or to seek standard education. Never does anyone would like to go far away from his/her home to study if the nearby schools can provide better education to him/her. However, due to the fact that there is shortage of prestige institutions or universities in remote

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