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Federal retirees will know their 2015
cost-of-living adjustment soon, and it’s expected to be
somewhere between 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that it will
publish September’s Consumer Price Index figure on Oct. 22. That
number is the final data point needed to calculate the 2015 COLA for
federal and military retirees, as well as Social Security
beneficiaries and those receiving veterans’ benefits.
Plugging the latest available data into the COLA formula results in
a 1.6 percent increase, down from the 1.8 percent August estimate,
based on July statistics. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage
Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) fell 0.2 percent in August,
according to statistics the BLS released recently. The CPI-W, which
the annual COLA for retirees is based on, dropped 0.1 percent in
July, after increasing in May and June.
[Source: Kellie Lunney, Defense One,
Sept.23, 2014]
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