Contents>> Vol. 13, No. 3
Roles of Marriage Matching, Land, and Education in the Rapid Deagrarianization of Cambodian Rural Youths during the 2010s
Yagura Kenjiro*
*矢倉研二郎, Faculty of Economics, Hannan University, 5-4-33 Amami-Higashi, Matsubara, Osaka 580-8502, Japan
e-mail: k-yagura[at]hannan-u.ac.jp
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8174-4658
DOI: 10.20495/seas.13.3_419
This study, using data on ever-married children aged 23–39 of household heads in four rice-growing villages in Cambodia, examines the mechanism underlying the rapid decrease in agricultural sector employment, or “deagrarianization,” among younger Cambodians during the 2010s. Special attention is devoted to the effects of increased marriage matching at the migration destination (MM), educational attainment, and decreased land availability. The stability of the deagrarianization process is also assessed.
Results of the descriptive and econometric analyses indicate that deagrarianization increased through the migration of younger people outside their home province to work as manual laborers in non-agricultural sectors. MM and decreased parents’ land endowments contributed significantly to deagrarianization, especially in villages where rice farming was an attractive occupation. Changes in parents’ land transfer behavior were not the cause but the result of deagrarianization. These findings suggest that changes in norms related to marital partner selection also underlie deagrarianization and that increased MM accelerated deagrarianization in Cambodia during the 2010s.
Data also indicate the low stability of non-agricultural employment, implying that deagrarianization in Cambodia might stagnate if its economy is impacted by even minor unfavorable shocks.
Keywords: deagrarianization, education, labor migration, land transfer, marriage, matching, occupational choice, rural youths
