The largest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since the 1980s could await Social Security beneficiaries due to the latest rise in inflation.
According to David Certner, legislative counsel and director of legislative policy for government affairs at AARP, the COLA will possibly be in the 5.5 to 6 percent bracket due to surging prices. Such estimates are preliminary and the official COLA will be dependent on prices from July until the end of September.
The increase is reportedly 6 to 6.1 percent, the largest in years. (Photo: Neat)
COLA 2022 Increase Announcement
The Cost of- Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2022’s increase will affect the money disseminated monthly to Social Security beneficiaries. It will most possibly be declared on October 13. Such a schedule is in accordance with the 2020 declaration for the 2021 COLA increase. There has yet to be a confirmation made regarding the schedule yet, but numerous people are expecting that the declaration will be made during the same date.
Projection of TSCL
The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a nonpartisan seniors advocacy group, foretold on Tuesday that the COLA for 2022 will be 6% to 6.1% in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Such projection dipped slightly from September’s estimate of 6.2%. A statement from the TSCL indicated the projection is based on CPI data through August.
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Timing of the Raise
The increase could not arrive sooner for numerous people as the United States tackles high inflation as the economy oversees its recuperation from the COVID-19 recession. Last year’s 1.3% COLA increase has tailed the large year-over-year inflation created in the course of the previous few months. For example, July 2021 witnessed prices surging 5.4% in contrast to that of July 2020.
According to Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst for TSCL, having 75% of the data necessitated to calculate the COLA already in, it increasingly seems that the COLA for 2022 will be the largest pay since the 1983 COLA when it was 7.4 percent, reported AARP.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) regularly makes a declaration of the amount of the yearly adjustment. The benefits increase is usually implemented starting in January.
Johnson stated, 2021 is particularly hard to project with accuracy. “The inflation patterns caused in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic were unprecedented in my experience,” reported Texas Breaking.
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