The U.S. Social Security Administration said Wednesday that monthly benefits for 60 million Americans will increase by 3.6 percent in 2012.
The increase applies to Social Security and Supplemental Security income checks. It also marks the first cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security benefits in two years.
No cost-of-living adjustment was granted in 2010 or 2011, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, called the CPI-W, had not risen above the third quarter 2008 level, the Social Security Administration said.
Source: UPI