In Cambodia alone up to 130 factories have asked the country’s Labor Ministry for permission to suspend their operations entirely or partly. With about 750,000 workers, the garment industry is the biggest employer in the Southeast Asian nation. Around 100,000 Cambodian workers have recently lost their jobs, either permanently or temporarily.
This number is likely to increase in the weeks and months to come. The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), which represents hundreds of employers, has also said that some factories may not survive the rapidly growing crisis, largely because the margins on which these companies operate are small.
