Cost Of Living Changes

Since there will be no cost of living adjustment (COLA) in Social Security benefits this year I had not paid that much attention to Social Security's COLA announcement. However, even though there was no change in the overall COLA, some important numbers have been adjusted. Here is Social Security's announcement:

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will not automatically increase in 2010 as there was no increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009. Other important 2010 Social Security information is as follows:

Maximum Taxable Earnings:	2009	2010
Social Security (OASDI only)	$106,800	$106,800*
Medicare (HI only)	No Limit

Quarter of Coverage:	2009	2010
Earnings needed to earn one Social Security credit	$1,090	$1,120

Retirement Earnings Test Exempt Amounts:	2009	2010
Under full retirement age NOTE: One dollar in benefits will be withheld for every $2 in earnings above the limit.	$14,160/yr. ($1,180/mo.)	$14,160/yr.* ($1,180/mo.)
The year an individual reaches full retirement age NOTE: Applies only to earnings for months prior to attaining full retirement age. One dollar in benefits will be withheld for every $3 in earnings above the limit.	$37,680/yr. ($3,140/mo.)	$37,680/yr.* ($3,140/mo.)
There is no limit on earnings beginning the month an individual attains full retirement age.

Social Security Disability Thresholds:		2009	2010
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA)	Non-Blind	$ 980/mo.	$1000/mo.
	Blind	$1,640/mo.	$1,640/mo.*
Trial Work Period (TWP)		$ 700/mo.	$ 720/mo.

SSI Federal Payment Standard:	2009	2010
Individual	$ 674/mo.	$ 674/mo.*
Couple	$1,011/mo.	$1,011/mo.*

SSI Student Exclusion:	2009	2010
Monthly Limit	$1,640	$1,640*
Annual Limit	$6,600	$6,600*

* Because there is no COLA, by statute these amounts remain unchanged in 2010.

Social Security Subcommittee Hearing Coming

I was unable to make last week's conferences of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) due to a case of H1N1 flu. I am told by someone who attended that Nancy Shor, NOSSCR's Executive Director, told the group that the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee is planning to hold a hearing during the first week of November.

Many Personnel Changes

Executive Personnel Announcements

DATE: October 20, 2009

TO: Senior Staff

FROM: Michael J. Astrue /s/
Commissioner

SUBJECT: Executive Personnel Assignments - INFORMATION

Two of the pillars of our agency, Bill Gray and Linda McMahon, will be retiring in the coming months. I am going to reserve my comments about their many accomplishments for later discussion.

Linda McMahon will retire November 30. Mary Glenn-Croft will move from the Office of Budget, Finance and Management to be Deputy Commissioner for Operations following Linda’s retirement.

Mike Gallagher will return to the Office of Budget, Finance and Management from his current role as Acting Deputy Chief of Staff, to be the Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management.

Stephanie Hall will be the permanent Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management.

Bill Gray, Deputy Commissioner for Systems, will retire at the end of the year.

Kelly Croft, currently Deputy Commissioner for Quality Performance, will return to Systems as Deputy Commissioner following Bill’s retirement.

Ron Raborg, currently the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), will become the Deputy Commissioner for Quality Performance.

Judy Kautsch, currently the Acting Associate Commissioner for Electronic Services and Management Information in ODAR, will serve as Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner.

I am also announcing the establishment of the Office of the Chief Economist in my immediate Office. Jason Fichtner will be the agency’s first Chief Economist. In this role, he will be the agency’s chief economic advisor with a coordinative role across all components in the planning and delivery of agency products that involve economic analysis and strategy at the agency level, serving as the agency’s economic liaison with the Social Security Advisory Board, the Social Security Trustees, and other technical panels, geospatial initiatives, and as an internal consultant across components on economic-related issues. Jason will also continue his involvement in the agency’s financial literacy efforts.

Linda Maxfield will serve as the Senior Advisor to the Chief Economist.

Please join me in wishing everyone success in their new assignments

Social Security Lags In Contracting With Small Firms

From Government Executive:

More than $1 out of every $4 spent on federal Recovery Act contracts has gone to small businesses, but several large spenders appear to be lagging behind in including small firms, administration officials told members of a Senate panel on Tuesday. ...

The Social Security Administration has awarded less than 2 percent of its contracts to small businesses ...

Attorneys To Get Electronic Access To Claimant Files

A case of swine flu kept me from attending the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) conference in San Francisco last week. Geri Kahn reports in his California Social Security Lawyer Blog on a presentation at the conference on a new program to allow attorneys and others representing Social Security claimants to have electronic access to their clients' Social Security files. Kahn reports that open enrollment will begin in Spring 2010.

Blahous Gets Nomination As Social Security Trustee

According to the Wall Street Journal, Chuck Blahous has been nominated by President Obama for Social Security's Board of Trustees as a public trustee. His appointment comes courtesy of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. It appears that there was no public announcement of the nomination. Blahous has been described by Andrew Biggs as "the Bush Administration's main man on Social Security reform."

Update: Robert Reischauer was also nominated for the Board of Trustees at the same time.

Processing Time Report

Courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR). Click on each thumbnail to view it full size.

Compare the average processing time as it has changed over time:

• January 25, 2007 -- 508 days
• May 25, 2007 -- 523 days
• July 28, 2007 -- 528 days
• August 31, 2007 -- 523 days
• November 30, 2007 -- 500 days
• February 29, 2008 -- 511 days
• May 30, 2008 -- 523 days
• June 27, 2008 -- 529 days
• July 31, 2008 -- 530 days
  
• September 3, 2008 -- 532 days
• November 5, 2008 -- 476 days
  
• December 3, 2008 -- 480 days
• March 8, 2009 -- 499 days
• April 24, 2009 -- 505 days
• June 3, 2009 -- 505 days
• September 29, 2009 -- 472 days
  

A Contradiction Left Unresolved?

Here are a quotes from two different Subcommittees of Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (emphasis added):

The Physical Demands Subcommittee strongly believes that data collection for the physical demands of work cannot be done by self-report. [See below. Another Subcommittee wants to give self-reporting a try.] There are numerous studies that demonstrate that self-reported physical demands are neither reliable nor valid ... (Physical Demands Subcommittee report, pages 34-35 of pdf)

Recommendation: The SSA should train existing Experts [Are we talking about Vocational Experts who testify at ALJ hearings or state agency vocational specialists or both?] in the new OIS [Occupational Information System] and use them as a source to provide job level data for the pilot study. The SSA should also provide job incumbents with the opportunity to provide job level data in the pilot study and compare the quality of results from the two sources. (Work Taxonomy and Classification Subcommittee report, page 282 of PDF )

The references are to the PDF of the entire Panel report. It looks to me as if there is a serious contradiction about a key matter. I do not see that this contradiction was ever resolved by the entire Panel.

I do not understand why the idea of surveying workers about their job duties should even come up. If you spend any time interviewing people about their job duties you quickly discover that when you ask people detailed questions you get confused answers that run along the lines of "I never weighed what I was lifting" and "I never timed how long I was on my feet" and "I never measured how far I had to walk." When pressed, people just give wild guesses. Surveying workers about their job duties may sound plausible, but it would yield only confusing, inconsistent, meaningless data.