Approaching EU enlargements as transnational events, this collaborative project examines transnational European welfare. It focuses on the portability of social security rights in the enlarged European Union; that is, the rights to health insurance and to unemployment, retirement and family-related benefits. The project involves a comparative analysis, which traces the migrations of regularly and irregularly employed migrants and their family members and the portability of their social security rights between four pairs of countries: Hungary-Austria, Bulgaria-Germany, Poland-United Kingdom and Estonia-Sweden. The main outcome will be a typology of transnational portability regimes derived from the comparative analysis of four research objectives for the respective pairs of countries. First, the project examines legal regulations on the portability of social security rights (WP 1: Document Analysis and Expert Interviews). Second, it analyses a variety of mobile EU citizens practices of portability, including limitations to portability they may involve (WP 2: Quantitative Survey). Third, the project reconstructs discourses of belonging incorporated into portability regulations to determine how they shape individuals access to social security (WP 3: Discourse Analysis). Fourth, it provides insights into individuals inequality experiences resulting from limitations to portability (WP 4: Qualitative In-Depth Interviews). Building on a transnational comparison of the four pairs of countries, the project then reconstructs variations in the portability of social security rights (WP 5: Integrated Analysis of Results and Comparison).

This innovative project adopts a holistic approach to understanding the dynamics of inequality across the life-course. We analyze how education, labor market and family choices interact to structure accumulated advantage and disadvantage over the life course. Using panel data from five EU countries for over 20 years and cutting-edge statistical methods, including multichannel sequence analysis, we take a comparative approach to exploring how cross-country economic and institutional differences affect inequality outcomes and life courses. Early adulthood is a crucial period of transition where people face multiple choices - about education, jobs, partnerships and childbearing – determining future life. We focus on key turning points, examine their interrelation and explore the cumulative impact on individual and group inequalities. Focusing on transitions during early adulthood, into education, jobs and family formation, we address the following project call themes: “Labor market and family trajectories and the growth of inequality,” “Early adult transitions into tertiary education, vocational training and economic activity” and “Early life influence and outcomes.” The research team of the PI, four CIs, postdoctoral fellows and PGR students will meet regularly and provides appropriate leadership, skills, and capacity building. Academic impact will be achieved by going beyond the state-of-the-art, the research producing new empirical findings and contributing to theory building. Potential for policy impact is high. We will establish early contact with key national and EU stakeholders and engage through meetings, the media, research briefings and social media.