News Release
SOCIAL SECURITY
1998 SOCIAL SECURITY CHANGES ANNOUNCED
Social Security Commissioner Kenneth S. Apfel announced today that
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits
will increase 2.1 percent. The increase will begin with benefits
that Social Security beneficiaries receive for December 1997, which
will be paid in January 1998. Increased payments to SSI recipients
will begin on December 31. The automatic cost-of-living adjustment
is made annually.
"Today's news confirms that inflation remains under control,"
Apfel said. "Low inflation is good for America, particularly for
many Social Security beneficiaries with limited incomes."
For Social Security beneficiaries, the average monthly benefit
amount for all retired workers will rise from $749 to $765. The
maximum federal SSI monthly payments to an individual will rise
from $484 to $494. For a couple, the maximum federal SSI payment
will rise from $726 to $741.
Social Security and SSI benefits increase automatically each year
based on the rise in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners
and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year
through the corresponding period of the next. This year's increase
in the CPI-W was 2.1 percent.
The automatic increase is the lowest since December 1986 when
beneficiaries received a 1.3 percent increase and is the second
lowest since the automatic adjustment became effective in 1975.
NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS: A fact sheet showing
the effect of the various automatic adjustments is attached.
Copies of most SSA press releases,
as well as other Social Security information and statistics, are
available at SSA's Internet site, Social Security Online, at http://www.ssa.gov/press/press_releases.html.
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