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 one year to the next. The year-over-year increase in the CPI-W from 2006 to 2007 was 2.3 percent, so the 2008 Social Security benefits increase will match that figure.
Annual Social Security Benefits Increase Helps Retirees, Survivors and Disabled Workers
The 2.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment will begin with the Social Security benefits that nearly 50 million beneficiaries receive in January 2008. Increased payments to more than 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 31.
Social Security and Supplement Security Income beneficiaries provide Social Security benefits to retirees and also disabled workers and their families, widows and widowers, and children who have survived the death of one or both parents.
Millions of Americans to Pay Higher Social Security Taxes in 2008
Still working? The Social Security Administration also has some news for you in 2008, but it may not be good news.
Another annual change that takes effect every January is based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase in 2007, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax will increase from $97,500 to $102,000. Of the estimated 164 million workers who will pay Social Security tax in 2008, nearly 12 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the maximum taxable earnings.
Fact Sheet Shows Effects of Changes in Social Security Benefits
For more information about the effects of these changes to Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security benefits in 2008, see the fact sheet published by the Social Security Administration.
