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H. GLOSSARYThe annual increase in benefits, effective for December, reflecting the increase, if any, in the cost of living. A benefit increase is applicable only after a beneficiary becomes eligible for benefits. In general, the benefit increase equals the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI‑W) measured from the third quarter of the previous year to the third quarter of the current year. If there is no increase in the CPI-W, there is no cost-of-living benefit increase. See table V.C1.A series that generally increases with the average amount of total wages for each year after 1950, including wages in noncovered employment and wages in covered employment in excess of the OASDI contribution and benefit base. (See Title 20, Chapter III, section 404.211(c) of the Code of Federal Regulations for a more precise definition.) These average wage amounts are used to index the taxable earnings of most workers first becoming eligible for benefits in 1979 or later, and for automatic adjustments in the contribution and benefit base, bend points, earnings test exempt amounts, and other wage-indexed amounts. See table V.C1.The dollar amounts defining the AIME or PIA brackets in the benefit formulas. For the bend points for years 1979 and later, see table V.C2.Annual dollar amount above which earnings in employment covered under the OASDI program are neither taxable nor creditable for benefit-computation purposes. (Also referred to as maximum contribution and benefit base, annual creditable maximum, taxable maximum, and maximum taxable.) See tables V.C1 and V.C6. See “HI contribution base.”Increases in the benefit amount for certain individuals who did not receive benefits for months after attaining normal retirement age but before age 70. Delayed retirement credits apply to benefits for January of the year following the year they are earned or for the month of attainment of age 70, whichever comes first. See table V.C3.For Social Security purposes, the inability to engage in substantial gainful activity (see “Substantial gainful activity — SGA”) by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. Special rules apply for workers at ages 55 and over whose disability is based on blindness.The provision requiring the withholding of benefits if beneficiaries under normal retirement age have earnings in excess of certain exempt amounts. See table V.C1.The state or condition of having sufficient quarters of coverage to meet the eligibility requirements for retired-worker or disabled-worker benefits, or to permit the worker’s spouse and children or survivors to establish eligibility for benefits in the event of his or her disability, retirement, or death. See “Quarters of coverage.”Interest rates on new public-debt obligations issuable to Federal trust funds (see “Special public-debt obligation”) are determined monthly. Such rates are equal to the average market yield on all outstanding marketable U.S. securities not due or callable until after 4 years from the date the rate is determined. See table V.B2 for historical and assumed future interest rates on new special-issue securities. The effective interest rate for a trust fund is the ratio of the interest earned by the fund over a given period of time to the average level of asset reserves held by the fund during the period. The effective rate of interest thus represents a measure of the overall average interest earnings on the fund’s portfolio of investments.Low-cost assumptions. See “Assumptions.”Lump-sum death paymentThe age at which a person may first become entitled to retirement benefits without reduction based on age. For persons reaching age 62 before 2000, the normal retirement age is 65. It will increase gradually to 67 for persons reaching that age in 2027 or later, beginning with an increase to 65 years and 2 months for persons reaching age 65 in 2003. See table V.C3.Amount the contribution and benefit base would have been if the 1977 amendments had not provided for ad hoc increases. The Social Security Amendments of 1972 provided for automatic annual indexing of the contribution and benefit base. The Social Security Amendments of 1977 specified ad hoc bases for 1978‑81, with subsequent bases updated in accordance with the normal indexing procedure. See table V.C2.The mathematical formula relating the PIA to the AIME for workers who attain age 62, become disabled, or die after 1978. The PIA is equal to the sum of 90 percent of AIME up to the first bend point, plus 32 percent of AIME above the first bend point up to the second bend point, plus 15 percent of AIME in excess of the second bend point. Automatic benefit increases are applied beginning with the year of eligibility. See table V.C2 for historical and assumed future bend points and table V.C1 for historical and assumed future benefit increases.Basic unit of measurement for determining insured status. In 2013, a worker receives one quarter of coverage (up to a total of four) for each $1,160 of annual covered earnings. For years after 1978, the amount of earnings required for a quarter of coverage is subject to annual automatic increases in proportion to increases in average wages. See table V.C2.The difference between the percentage increases in: (1) the average annual wage in covered employment; and (2) the average annual Consumer Price Index. See table V.B1.Securities of the United States Government issued exclusively to the OASI, DI, HI, and SMI Trust Funds and other Federal trust funds. Section 201(d) of the Social Security Act provides that the public-debt obligations issued for purchase by the OASI and DI Trust Funds shall have maturities fixed with due regard for the needs of the funds. The usual practice has been to spread the holdings of special issues, as of each June 30, so that the amounts maturing in each of the next 15 years are approximately equal. Special public-debt obligations are redeemable at par value at any time and carry interest rates determined by law (see “Interest rate”). See tables VI.A4 and VI.A5 for a listing of the obligations held by the OASI and DI Trust Funds, respectively.
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