Social Security update: Recipients could receive smaller cost-of-living adjustment next year
Brady Knox
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As inflation continues to decline, Social Security recipients are set to receive a much smaller cost-of-living adjustment than last year.
The annual COLA is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or the CPI-W, according to Fox 5 New York. The Senior Citizens League, an activist group for senior citizens, calculated that at the current rate, the COLA next year is set to be a 3% increase. In comparison, the COLA last year was an 8.7% increase.
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If conditions remain the same by October, when it is announced, the increase would be $54, added to the current monthly check of $1,827. Mary Johnson, a policy analyst with the SCL, said that the increase could be even less if current trends continue.
“If inflation continues to fall at the current rate, it appears that the COLA for 2024 will be lower than 3%,” she said. “Although easing inflation should relieve older consumers, new survey findings from the Senior Citizens League indicate that recent steep inflation has had long-lasting financial impacts on many older households, making recovery difficult.”
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Johnson stressed that there is still a way to go before the announcement of the COLA in October, so it is subject to change.
So far, the record-breaking 8.7% increase has overshot the expected inflation by an average of 2.6% each month. Last year, the COLA undershot expected inflation by a cumulative $1,054.