• Society

Cambodia Pushes for Portable Migrant Pensions

• By Lay Sopheavotey
• and Sam Sopich
• May 5, 2022 1:38 PM

Critics fear electioneering gesture

PHNOM PENH – The Cambodian government has pledged to keep playing a leading role in mobilizing ASEAN countries to create pension mobility for workers.

However, ​labor NGOs say the promise may only be to attract the support of workers for the upcoming election.

Pension system reforms would let workers in the future transfer membership, seniority and social security contributions from one country to another after the end of their employment contract, to serve as the basis for calculating the pension.

Heng Sour, a spokesman for the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, said the government is cooperating with ASEAN countries to implement the system.

No country has yet reached an agreement on pension cooperation with Cambodia but the issue of pensions is being discussed, with Cambodia joining the push, he confirmed.

“The challenge is that the basis for payment of pensions from one country to another is different, and in order to be transferred, all countries have to be open and exchange information with each other,” Heng Sour said.

"Cambodia is ready to be open, but globally, most developed countries are not yet willing to share this data and have not yet mobilized pension benefits."

Such a system would let workers transfer membership, seniority and social security contributions from one country to another after the end of their employment contract to be the basis for calculating the pension, he said.

He explained that when Cambodian workers go abroad to work for five years and return to work in Cambodia, it is necessary to prepare documents to consider their seniority.

Khun Tharo, program manager at CENTRAL, said that it was a good plan for countries like Thailand that receive workers because workers will contribute to its economy, so they should get social security and other benefits as well. 

“As NGOs, we urged for implementation because it will have many benefits, but we are concerned it’s just only a population benefit related to the upcoming election to attract the support from workers because the government already promised it since the last mandate,” he said.

It is not clear whether the pension would apply to workers who registered in the Labor Ministry and worked in abroad or for general workers.

If this policy can be implemented, workers in Thailand, Korea and other countries will get benefits for themselves and their families. The national economy would also benefit.

Previously, the government announced implementation of pensions for workers from 2019.

Sour said that at present, Cambodia only cooperates with countries on social security benefits such as occupational accident insurance, health insurance and life insurance for ensuring the health and wellbeing of Cambodian workers.

“In work accidents or unfortunate loss of life, the workers and their families who have been legally insured through the Ministry of Labor will always receive a full transfer of compensation and other benefits,” Heng Sour said.