The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views or
policies of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors,
or the governments they represent. ADBI does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and
accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent
with ADB official terms.

8th ADBI-OECD-ILO Roundtable on Labour Migration in Asia.

Building partnerships for effectively managing migration:
lessons from Asia countries for the UN Global Compact on Migration

Portability of Social Security and Migration

- EU-German Perspective -
31 January 2018, Seoul

Farid El Kholy, Deputy Head of Division

German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Division “Basic Issues of Migration and Integration Policy”
 Context of social security in
Germany

Regional level/scope of the German social security system

Regional level Regional scope

National Germany

International Bilateral

Multilateral European Union

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 National
Germany: Overview

• The German social security system is divided into three sections:

(1) statutory social insurance, (2) providence and (3) welfare.
• The statutory social insurance is well-developed and complex
and consists of five branches.
• These comprise all the government measures aimed at protecting
people in the case of illness, unemployment, old age, accidents at
work and care dependency.

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 National
Germany: Public social spending

Unemployment 5% Accident 2%
Long-term care 6%

587 bn. EUR

Health 38%

Pension 49%

Pension Health Long-term care Unemployment Accident

4
 National
Germany: Five branches

Five statutory social security insurances

1. The statutory health insurance (1883): medical consultations, medication and therapy.
2. The statutory long-term care insurance (1995): basic insurance for the eventuality of being
dependent on long-term care owing to illness. This usually applies to people in old age.
3. The statutory pension insurance (1889): pays employees a pension once they have retired.
4. Statutory accident insurance (1884): covers the costs of medical treatment and occupational
rehabilitation after an accident at work or in the case of an occupational illness.
5. The statutory unemployment insurance (1927): provides the unemployed with income for a
certain period of time if, as a general rule, they have been insured for at least one year during
the last two years and are in search of a new job.

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 International
Portability of social security

Portability of social security entitlements

• European Union
‒ plus European Economic Area (EEA) – Iceland, Liechtenstein and
Norway
‒ plus Switzerland
• Bilateral agreement between Germany and another contract country
• Third country
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 International
Bilateral social security agreements
State/Country Date signed Scope of bilateral agreement

Albania 1.12.2017 health insurance, care insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance
Australia 1.01.2003 pension, employment promotion
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.09.1969 health insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance, child benefit
Brazil 1.05.2013 pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance
Canada / + Quebec 1.04.1988 pension, employment promotion/ + statutory accident insurance
Chile 1.01.1994 pension, employment promotion
Croatia 1.12.1998 transition into EU-regulations
India 1.05.2017 pension, employment promotion
Israel 1.05.1975 health insurance, pension, statutory accident insurance
Japan 1.02.2000 pension, employment promotion
Korea, Republic of 1.01.2003 pension, employment promotion
Kosovo 1.09.1969 pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance, child benefit
Macedonia 1.01.2005 health insurance, care insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance
Montenegro 1.09.1969 health insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance, child benefit
Morocco 1.08.1986 health insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance
Serbia 1.09.1969 health insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance, child benefit
Tunisia 1.08.1986 health insurance, pension, statutory accident insurance
Turkey 1.11.1965 health insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance child benefit
Uruguay 1.02.2015 health insurance, care insurance, pension, employment promotion, statutory accident insurance
USA 1.12.1979 pension

7
 International
Bilateral delegation agreement

• Germany has signed a special agreement, a so-called delegation

agreement with the Peoples` Republic of China (4.04.2002).
• It regulates that employees, who are temporarily sent by their company
to work in another agreement country, do not have to pay double
contributions to pension insurance and unemployment benefit.

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 Multilateral: Social Europe for All
Basic Data

EU-28 GER

Population (m) 510 82

GDP (bn EUR) 14,820 3,134

Social security expenditure (bn EUR) 4,013 850

State contribution to social security systems (%) 40.5 33.3

Employers’ social contribution (%) 34.8 34.6

Employees’ social contribution (%) 19.3 30.5

Unemployment rate (%) as of July 2017 7.9 3.9

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 Multilateral: Social Europe for All
Freedom of Movement

Free movement of EU workers is a fundamental principle.

EU citizens are entitled to:
• look for a job in another EU country
• work there without needing a work permit
• reside there for that purpose
• stay there even after employment has finished
• enjoy equal treatment with nationals in access to employment,
working conditions and all other social and tax advantages
• receive assistance from the host country’s public employment service
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 Multilateral: Social Europe for All
Social security system coordination (1)

The EU provides common rules to protect social security rights when moving within Europe
(EU 28 + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland).
These rules on social security coordination do not replace national systems.

Who do these rules apply to?

• Nationals of the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland who are or have been
insured in one of these countries, and their family members.
• Stateless persons or refugees residing in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland,
who are or have been insured in one of these countries, and their family members.
• Nationals of non-EU countries, legally residing in the territory of the EU, who have moved
between these countries, and their family members.
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 Multilateral: Social Europe for All
Social security system coordination (2)

Four underlying principles apply

1. People covered by these regulations are subject to the laws of one country only,
and thus pay social security contributions in one country only.
2. They have the same basic rights and obligations as the citizens of the country in which
they are insured. This follows the principle of equality and non-discrimination.
3. If they claim assistance, their previous periods of insurance coverage, employment
and residence in other relevant countries are taken into account.
4. If they have an entitlement to monetary benefits in one country, they may receive
these, if they live in a different country. This is known as the principle of portability.

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 Multilateral: Social Europe for All
Social security system coordination (3)

The regulations apply for the individual areas of the social insurance system,
covering
• Health insurance and maternity benefit
• Pension and accident insurance
• Unemployment insurance
• Child benefit
• Invalidity/reduces earning capacity

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 Portability & Migration
Observations & remarks

„Everyone as a member of society has the

right to social security (…)“
• Globalisation is a fact. Universal Declaration of Human Right (1948), Art. 22
• International migration is a fact.
• Lack of skilled work force is a fact for many countries.
• Portability of social security entitlements is an important incentive in
the “race for talents”.
• But: for bilateral agreements functioning administrative structure must
be in place – on both sides.
• UN Global Compact for safe and orderly migration will cover this topic.

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Thank you very much for you attention!

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