Social Security Announces 5.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2009
Posted: Friday, October 24, 2008 |  Printer Friendly
Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits, for more than 55 million Americans, will increase 5.8 percent in 2009; the Social Security Administration announced today. The 5.8 percent increase is the largest since 1982.
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year. This year's increase in the CPI-W was 5.8 percent.
The 5.8 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that over 50 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2009. Increased payments to more than 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 31.
| 
