9/17/21 - Social Security could get biggest cost-of-living increase in 40 years

After years of puny increases in their Social Security checks, older Americans will likely get the equivalent of a big raise next year.

(USA TODAY) - The 68 million people -- including retirees, disabled people and others – who rely on the benefits are likely to receive a 6% to 6.1% cost-of-living adjustment next year because of a COVID-19-related spike in inflation, according to the Senior Citizen League.

Such a rise would far outpace 1.4% average bumps in Social Security payments since 2010 and amount to the largest increase since 1982, according to the Senior Citizen League.

For the average retiree who got a monthly check of $1,559 this year, a 6% rise would increase that payment by $93.54, to $1,652.54, in 2022.

Next month, the Social Security Administration will announce its cost-of-living adjustment for 2022 based on average annual increases in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, or CPI-W, from July through September. The CPI-W largely reflects the broad CPI index the Labor Department reports each month.

The Senior Citizens League projects the increase based on changes in the CPI-W over the past year. But inflation has been volatile recently. Overall prices increased 5.4% annually in both June and July – a 13-year high. But inflation edged down to 5.3% in August, the Labor Department said Tuesday, as hotel rates and airline fares fell.

Such prices surged as the nation emerged from the pandemic and Americans started traveling again, but Federal Reserve officials have said they believe the spike is temporary.

As a result, the actual cost-of-living increase that SSA announces next month is something of a moving target and could dip to 5.9%, though probably not much lower, says Mary Johnson, a policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League.

The high COLA estimate for next year mostly has been driven by higher gasoline and transportation costs that have pushed up the CPI, Johnson says.

Johnson has argued that the broad index should better reflect the spending patterns of seniors, who buy less gasoline, electronics and other products that make up a larger portion of young workers’ budgets.