Social Security Announces 0.3 Percent Benefit Increase for 2017

The Social Security Administration recently announced that monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 65 million Americans will increase 0.3 percent in 2017. The 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin to Social Security beneficiaries in January 2017. And increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on Dec. 30, 2016. The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.