Dem go soon announce how much wey di 70 million people wey dey collect Social Security go dey receive for dia 2025 benefit checks. Every year, dem dey do dis Cost-of-Living Adjustment, wey dem dey call COLA. Na so dem dey adjust am every fall, because make inflation no come reduce wetin dem dey buy weda dem be old people or other beneficiaries. Dis adjustment bin start since di 1970s.
Usually, na di same day worti dem go announce di COLA, na dat same day Labor Department go drop di inflation report for September. Di Consumer Price Index report wey dem dey release for September, dem schedule am for Thursday, October 10. According to Senior Citizens League (TSCL), di increase dis year no go big reach, dem dey expect am around 2.5%.
Dis increase go be di smallest one since 2021, when seniors bin receive 1.3% because di pandemic bin make inflation slow down. But di way inflation shoot for 2022 and 2023, di Social Security give big COLAs wey be 5.9% and 8.7% respectively. Di COLA for dis year dey 3.2%. So, if di agency announce di 2.5% increase for next year, di average check wey retirees go dey collect go increase by about $48, reaching $1,955 for each payment.
Earlier for dis month, Congress pass one law wey tie veterans’ benefits to Social Security COLA increase. Dem call di law Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2024. E mean say VA go increase veterans’ benefits same as Social Security COLA. Sen. Jon Tester, one Democrat from Montana wey co-sponsor di bill, talk say “Boosting our veterans’ hard-earned benefits to keep pace with the cost of living na necessary cost of war.” Dis one go affect disability payments, clothing allowance and other benefits for veterans and dia families.
Meanwhile, inflation bin cool down well well after e reach 9.1% for June 2022. Federal Reserve bin do plenty rate hikes wey help cool di inflation, wey remain 3.7% – e own lowest in three years. Economists dey predict say inflation go keep dey cool down, expect say di rate go reach 2.3% dis September.
Di Social Security Administration dey base di annual COLA on di inflation wey e occur from July reach September. Di agency dey use di Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers or CPI-W to track am, and na e dem dey use for dis calculations. Since inflation don reduce for di past months, dem dey expect di 2025 COLA to be lower than di previous years.
