COLA increase is 5.8%, biggest since 1982
Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 4:40 pm
Linkarooni
COLA increase is 5.8%, biggest since 1982
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 16, 2008 11:10:27 EDT
The Dec. 1 cost-of-living adjustment for military and federal civilian retirees, disabled veterans and survivors will be 5.8 percent, with the increase first appearing in Jan. 1 checks.
The same increase will go to Social Security recipients.
The 5.8 percent hike is a little less than some expected. In the last few months, rising crude oil prices had a broad effect across the economy — increasing not only the cost of filling up gas tanks but also boosting transportation costs to drive up the price of retail goods and food.
But oil prices have fallen as the overall economy has suffered a major meltdown, resulting in a final COLA that is still the biggest increase since 1982.
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