ECONIS Select – Providing Portable Unemployment Insurance to Overseas Workers

07/2010

Selected for the Global Economic Symposium 2010

The recent global financial crisis had destructive consequences for the world’s labor markets. Migrant laborers and overseas contract workers were at the forefront of massive retrenchments and, as a result, remittances fell sharply in some of the world most remittance-dependent economies. Large waves of returnees were reported, while other unemployed migrant workers stayed on in their host countries, competing for scarce jobs, and likely fueling social tensions in the process. Unfortunately, the majority of overseas workers fall outside formal unemployment insurance systems. In host countries around the world, there are typically no mechanisms for guest workers to pay into an unemployment insurance system. Nor are migrant workers covered by unemployment insurance systems in their countries of origin. At the same time, a large fraction of migrant workers are undocumented workers and would not be covered by any social insurance system in the first place. Some unemployed workers with adequate savings may have fared well, but for most workers, the consequences of the crisis have likely been borne fully by them and by their households. In the post-crisis environment, host countries and countries of origin have an opportunity to consider how best to provide safety nets for their overseas workers. As the global economy recovers, unemployed migrant workers will likely find new jobs and those who returned to their home countries will likely be redeployed.

• How should a portable unemployment insurance system be established?
• Are there political economy constraints that need to be addressed?
• Should such a system be negotiated bilaterally or in a multilateral setting?
• Should it be managed by the private sector or the public sector?
• What are the design features of such a system?

An appropriate unemployment insurance system would be an important step toward offsetting the devastating impact of the next economic downturn— whether local or global in scope—among overseas workers and their families.

Literature selected from our database ECONIS:

• Article: Social security regimes, global estimates, and good practices: the status of social protection for international migrants / Johanna Avato, Johannes Koettl and Rachel Sabates-Wheeler
  In: World development. - Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, ISSN 0305-750X, ZDB-ID 1853399. - Bd. 38.2010, 4, S. 455-466
  Subject heading: Social security / International migration / World
• Title: Economic migration, social cohesion and development: towards an integrated approach / Patrick Taran ... [Council of Europe]
  Corporate body: Council of Europe
  Published: Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publ., 2009
  Subject heading: International migration / International labour mobility / Migrants / Migration policy / Economic Growth / Social integration / Social security / Social conditions / EU policy / EU countries
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Social security for migrants: does the European Union framework provide lessons for developments in SADC? / Marius Olivier
  In: Social security in transition. - The Hague [u.a.]: Kluwer Law International, ISBN 90-411-1969-8. - 2002, S. 107-124
  Subject heading: Social security / |stw| EU countries / |stw| SADC countries / |stw| Migrants
• Title: A political-economy positive role of the social security system in sustaining immigration (but not vice versa) / Edith Sand; Assaf Razin
  Published: Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007
  Subject heading: Social security / Old-age security / Public pension system / Pay-as-you-go / Immigration / Migrants / Theory
  Link: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13598.pdf
  Request info: - Available
• Article: Illegal labour migrants and access to social protection / Paul Schoukens and Danny Pieters
  In: European journal of social security. - Schoten: Intersentia Publ., ISSN 1388-2627, ZDB-ID 14580366. - Bd. 6.2004, 3, S. 229-254
  Subject heading: International labour mobility / |stw| Moonlighting / |stw| Social security
• Title: Immigration from outside Europe: chance or challenge for social security?; Dimensions of a complex topic / Winfried Schmähl
  Published: Bremen: ZeS, 2008
  Links:
  http://edoc.vifapol.de/opus/volltexte/2009/1176/
  http://www.zes.uni-bremen.de/xml/arbeitspapierDownload.php?ID=276&SPRACHE=DE&TYPE=PDF http://hdl.handle.net/10419/27144 [Download: 24.11.2008]
• Article: Cross-border workers in the European internal market: Trojan Horses for member states' labour and social security law / Herwig Verschueren
  In: The international journal of comparative labour law and industrial relations. - The Hague: Kluwer Law International, ISSN 0952-617X, ZDB-ID 2696289. - Bd. 24.2008, 2, S. 167-199
  Subject heading: International labour mobility / Commuting / Single European market / Labour Law / Social security / EU social legislation / EU countries
• Article: The new EU coordination system for workers who become unemployed / Rob Cornelissen
  In: European journal of social security. - Schoten: Intersentia Publ., ISSN 1388-2627, ZDB-ID 14580366. - Bd. 9.2007, 3, S. 187-219
  Subject heading: Unemployment insurance / Community Law / Seasonal workers / International labour mobility / Single European market / EU countries
• Title: Estimating the impact of immigrants on the host country social security system when return migration is an endogenous choice / Murat G. Kirdar
  Published: Bonn: IZA, 2010
  Subject heading: Migrants / Foreign workers / Savings / Return migration / Life cycle / Public pension system / Unemployment insurance / Social security finance / Germany
  Link: http://ftp.iza.org/dp4894.pdf
• Title: Immigration, unemployment and domestic welfare / Alexander Kemnitz
  Published: Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006
  Subject heading: Immigration / |stw| International labour mobility / |stw| Occupational qualification / |stw| Unemployment / |stw| Unskilled workers / |stw| Unemployment insurance / |stw| Migration policy / |stw| Public choice / |stw| Employment discrimination / |stw| Education behaviour / |stw| Old-age security / |stw| Welfare effect / |stw| Theory
  Link: Table of contents
• Article: Multi-level determinants of the public's informal solidarity towards immigrants in European welfare states / Wim van Oorschot and Wilfred Uunk
  In: Social justice, legitimacy and the welfare state. - Aldershot [u.a.]: Ashgate, ISBN 0-7546-4939-3. - 2007, S. 217-238
  Subject heading: Welfare state / Social justice / Social security / Migrants / Minority / Solidarity / EU countries / 1999-2000
• Article: Unemployment benefits, risk aversion, and migration incentives / Axel Heitmueller
  In: Journal of population economics. - Berlin: Springer, ISSN 0933-1433, ZDB-ID 6250051. - Bd. 18.2005, 1, S. 93-112
  Subject heading: Unemployment insurance / |stw| Risk aversion / |stw| International migration / |stw| Estimation / |stw| Theory / |stw| EU countries / |stw| Migration theory
• Article: Unemployment insurance, immigrants' skills, and native earnings / Alexander Kemnitz
  In: Finanzarchiv. - Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, ISSN 0015-2218, ZDB-ID 20205. - Bd. 60.2004, 1, S. 111-139
  Subject heading: Immigration / |stw| Foreign workers / |stw| Occupational qualification / |stw| Wages / |stw| Unemployment insurance / |stw| Theory
  Link: http://www.gbi.de/cgi-bin/volltext?FA_200401002_0&GW=zbw
• Article: International migration as a social protection mechanism in the Philippines: issues and implications / By Jeremaiah M. Opiniano
  In: Global crossroads in social welfare. - Bremen: Europäischer Hochschulverl., ISBN 978-3-941482-77-7. - 2010, S. 63-93
  Subject heading: International migration / Migrants' remittances / Social security / Philippines
• Title: Migration and the welfare state: dynamic political-economy theory / Assaf Razin; Efraim Sadka; Benjarong Suwankiri
  Published: Cambridge, Mass., 2009
  Subject heading: Welfare state / National income / Social security / Pay-as-you-go / International labour mobility / Freedom of establishment / Welfare effect / Theory
  Link: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14784.pdf
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• Article: Do workers remittances reduce the probability of current account reversals? / Matteo Bugamelli and Francesco Paternò
  In: World development. - Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, ISSN 0305-750X, ZDB-ID 1853399. - Bd. 37.2009, 12, S. 1821-1838
  Subject heading: Capital mobility / Migrants' remittances / Current account balance / Newly industrializing countries / Developing countries / Financial crisis
• Title: The impact of the credit crisis on poor developing countries: growth, worker remittances, accumulation and migration / Thomas H. W. Ziesemer
  Published: Maastricht: UNU-MERIT, 2009
  Subject heading: Financial crisis / Business cycle transmission / Migrants' remittances / Investment / Economic Growth / OECD countries / Developing countries
  Link: http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2009/wp2009-026.pdf
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• Title: The global financial crisis and remittances: What past evidence suggests / Massimilano Calì with Salvatore Dell'Erba
  Published: 2009
  Subject heading: Globalization / Financial crisis / International labour mobility / Migrants' remittances / Developing countries / 2009
  Link: http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/3366.pdf
• Title: Remittances: an automatic output stabilizer? / Ralph Chami, Dalia Hakura, and Peter Montiel
  Published: Washington, DC: Internat. Monetary Fund, 2009
  Subject heading: Migrants' remittances / Financial crisis / Aggregate Production / Industrialized countries / Developing countries / Newly industrializing countries
  Link: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp0991.pdf
  Request info: - Available