Labor migration is a rising global issue. In Asia and the Pacific region, it is a structural reality, as the region is not only comprised of major migrant countries of origin, but also traditional and emerging destination countries. As the greater flow of people across national boundaries improved labor markets, it also created new challenges including limited legal rights, discrimination, social exclusion and the lack of social security especially to migrant workers. To strengthen migrant worker protection, entering into social security agreement is a viable option to ensure portability of social security entitlements.

Within the APEC region, the Philippines has an existing social security agreement with Canada and Japan. Applying the concept of Regime I (Holzmann, Koettl and Chernetsky, 2005), this research examines the portability of social security benefits within the contextual and operational frameworks of social security agreements. Social security agreement (SSA) is a significant means of harmonizing social protection, thus resulting to equality of treatment between origin and destination countries. Moreover, migration profiles, social security systems and labor market characteristics are factors to be considered that affect the agreement scope.

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Title: Portability of Social Security Benefits in the APEC Region: An Examination of Social Security Agreements
Researcher: Miraluna S. Tacadao