Worker mobility is an increasingly important phenomenon that has wide social, cultural, and
economic repercussions. An area of particular import for mobile labor is social security services,
which have been, historically, designed for domestic coverage but now have to contend with
increasing internationalization. A rethinking should be under way on best design practices for
social security that better support mobile labor.
One important aspect of social security that affects mobile workers is portability of social
security benefits. Portability of social security exists where a worker-member1 is enabled to
preserve the actuarial value of accrued pension rights when moving from one country or job to
another (Forteza 2008). Portability of social security, in theory, can affect workers’ decisions to
seek employment abroad2 - where and for how long, as well as where to spend their retirement.
It also has important implications for host and home countries. For labor-short host countries,
portability of social security rights not only protects workers but it can also facilitate their orderly
return, thus decreasing the social tensions that labor migration usually brings. For the countries
of origin, it helps ensure that migrants do not become burdens to domestic social services upon
their return. Portable social security also provides migrants some means of support, including
investment in future self-employment. Finally, for regions that aim at closer integration,
portability can facilitate orderly migration and labor mobility that, in turn, helps in improving
efficiency and growth in the region as a whole, enabling labor resources to move where they
can be most productive.
Portability of social security is especially important in Asia, where statutory policies only allow
for temporary admission and employment of foreign workers. Because they are only admitted
on the strength of several years’ employment contracts, most migrant workers fail to qualify for
old-age benefits in the countries where they work even if national social security systems do not
exclude them from membership. This paper takes a look at portability of social protection in
Southeast Asia, particularly in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries
which has an aspiration towards greater economic integration, and analyzes possibilities for
bilateral or multilateral cooperation in social security. It deals primarily with long-term benefits
such as old-age, retirement, and survivor3 benefits. Health care is another important component
of social protection for migrants, but there have been few bilateral or multilateral agreements on
health care portability as the pre-funding, risk-pooling, and redistributive components of health
insurance appear more difficult to disentangle (Holzmann, Koettl, and Chernetsky 2005).
The next section discusses evidence of migration growth in Southeast Asia and the implications
of asymmetrical regional labor flows. Section 3 provides a general discussion of losses from
lack of portability of social security and the ways these can be addressed—for example, through
social security design and international agreement. It also assesses existing national social
security schemes in light of their portability features. Section 4 presents social security schemes
that other regions have adopted, which ASEAN can consider. Section 5 discusses options to
implement the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant
Workers.