Amount required for a quarter of coverage

The amount of wages and self-employment income which an individual must have in order to be credited with a quarter of coverage in any year under subsection (a)(2)(A)(ii) shall be $250 in the calendar year 1978 and the amount determined under paragraph (2) of this subsection for years after 1978.

The Commissioner of Social Security shall, on or before November 1 of 1978 and of every year thereafter, determine and publish in the Federal Register the amount of wages and self-employment income which an individual must have in order to be credited with a quarter of coverage in the succeeding calendar year. The amount required for a quarter of coverage shall be the larger of—

(A) the amount in effect in the calendar year in which the determination under this subsection is made, or

(B) the product of the amount prescribed in paragraph (1) which is required for a quarter of coverage in 1978 and the ratio of the national average wage index (as defined in section 409(k)(1) of this title ) for the calendar year before the year in which the determination under this paragraph is made to the national average wage index (as so defined) for 1976,

with such product, if not a multiple of $10, being rounded to the next higher multiple of $10 where such amount is a multiple of $5 but not of $10 and to the nearest multiple of $10 in any other case.