Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustments and the Consumer Price Index

by Clark Burdick and Lynn Fisher
Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 67 No. 3, 2007
Table equivalent for Chart 1. Annual Cost of Living Increases (COLAs): Hypothetical versus actual (in percent)
Year COLA differences COLA based on:
CPI-E
Differential		 Chained CPI-U
Differential		 CPI-E
COLA		 CPI-W
COLA		 C-CPI-U
COLA
1984 0.7 . . . 4.3 3.6 . . .
1985 0.5 . . . 3.6 3.1 . . .
1986 1.0 . . . 2.3 1.3 . . .
1987 0.0 . . . 4.2 4.2 . . .
1988 0.3 . . . 4.3 4.0 . . .
1989 0.3 . . . 5.0 4.7 . . .
1990 0.8 . . . 6.2 5.4 . . .
1991 0.5 . . . 4.2 3.7 . . .
1992 0.1 . . . 3.1 3.0 . . .
1993 0.5 . . . 3.1 2.6 . . .
1994 0.3 . . . 3.1 2.8 . . .
1995 0.2 . . . 2.8 2.6 . . .
1996 0.1 . . . 3.0 2.9 . . .
1997 0.2 . . . 2.3 2.1 . . .
1998 0.6 . . . 1.9 1.3 . . .
1999 0.1 . . . 2.5 2.4 . . .
2000 0.1 . . . 3.6 3.5 . . .
2001 0.4 -0.5 3.0 2.6 2.1
2002 0.4 -0.2 1.8 1.4 1.2
2003 0.3 -0.1 2.4 2.1 2.0
2004 0.4 -0.2 3.1 2.7 2.5
2005 -0.3 -0.8 3.8 4.1 3.3
2006 0.1 -0.5 3.4 3.3 2.8
SOURCE: Authors' calculations based on CPI data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
NOTE: C-CPI-U = Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers; CPI-E = Consumer Price Index for the Elderly; CPI-W = Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
. . . = not applicable.