The retirement of the migrant labor force: pension portability and beyond

The specificities of the workforce with a migrant background are often neglected in studies of retirement. Similarly, many studies of migration’s impact on pensions often focus on aggregate outcomes – system sustainability or distributive characteristics. The present paper provides a fresh look at the nexus between these two literatures. It discusses the impact of the European social security coordination mechanisms on individual decision-making and on the functioning of social security systems – with a focus on retirement. The paper argues that such effects are non-negligible and are likely to have major policy consequences.