Social Security benefits to go up

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Social Security benefits will rise 1.5 percent in January, giving millions of retired and disabled workers an average raise of $19 a month to keep up with the cost of living.

The increase is among the smallest since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, and reflects the fact that consumer prices haven’t gone up much in the past year. The annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, is based on a government measure of inflation that was released Wednesday.

Automatic COLAs were adopted in 1975 so that benefits for people on fixed incomes would keep pace with rising prices.