A nationwide strike by Cambodia's garment workers this week has stalled the nation's largest manufacturing industry. Tens of thousands of protesters skipped work to demand a higher minimum wage than what the government has offered.

According to Wall Street Journal, the job action has prompted the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia to call on its members to suspend operations this week.

Workers from more than 120 factories launched the job action on Wednesday, said leaders of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union. Workers were protesting the government's decision this week to raise the industry's minimum wage by 19% to $95 a month. This is well short of the union's demand for $160, the report said.

Cambodia's garment industry supplies apparel to retailers mainly in the United States and the European Union. Cambodia's labor officials said that the country has 795 garment and footwear factories that employ about 600,000 workers, WSJ wrote.