Social Security Checks to Rise in US as Prices Keep Climbing

Millions of older Americans will get a bigger Social Security payment next year. Starting in January, the average monthly check for seniors will go up by about $75, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The increase comes from the yearly cost-of-living adjustment, known as COLA. This year’s figure is 3.6 percent, which makes it the largest since 2023. That was a time when prices were jumping fast as the country recovered from the pandemic.

The raise reaches about 75 million people. That group includes retirees, people with disabilities and those who get Supplemental Security Income.

Inflation is still moving fasterThe bigger check may not leave people better off, though. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the same day that prices in September were 3.7 percent higher than a year earlier. That is the steepest yearly jump since May, and it sits just above the new COLA.

AARP, a group that speaks for older Americans, had already warned that a 3.5 percent raise would not be enough to match rising prices. The final number came in slightly higher than that, but the gap with inflation has not fully closed.

For many years it took in more than it paid out, and the…

Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world