“Retirement income among migrants is closely tied to origin country and timing”
What is the focus of the paper?
Migrants in the Netherlands form a diverse group, with varying migration histories and socioeconomic backgrounds. This paper examines the retirement income of the twenty largest migrant groups, focusing on the three main sources of their retirement income (state pension, supplementary pension, and income from abroad). This enables a better understanding of the common pension poverty among migrants.
What are the key findings?
Overall, the findings show that retirement income among migrants is closely tied to migration type and timing, leading to structural differences in the retirement income. The results show substantial variation between migrant groups in both the level and composition of retirement income. Migrants from the European Union and former colonies generally receive higher income from all three sources. In contrast, refugees tend to have low income from all sources, reflecting more recent arrival and limited access to stable employment. Some groups show mixed patterns. Labor migrants from Morocco and Turkey, for example, often receive a relatively high state pension due to early arrival in the Netherlands, but their supplementary pensions are modest, as many were employed in low-paid jobs. Migrants from East Asian countries also tend to qualify for a large share of the state pension, but they receive little additional pension income.
What are the implications?
- It is important to study multiple migrant groups and multiple sources of retirement income when trying to understand pension poverty among migrants.
- Reducing the accrual period for the Dutch state pension would probably lead to smaller differences in retirement income between migrant groups.
- Improving the labor market position of migrants can reduce pension poverty.