By Tami Luhby | CNN
Social Security recipients will receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment of 3.2% for 2024, a much smaller increase than the inflation-fueled boosts of the past two years, the Social Security Administration announced Thursday.
The lower adjustment reflects the fact that inflation has moderated this year. Recipients had received increases of 8.7% for 2023 and 5.9% for last year, which were the largest since the early 1980s.
“It’s a small amount, but it’s providing some cushion,” said Mary Johnson, Social Security policy analyst at The Senior Citizens League, an advocacy group. “We have the hope that things are going to be more affordable.”
The boost remains well above the average over the past two decades, which is 2.6%, she said. The annual adjustment is based on an inflation metric from August through October, which has cooled after being around four-decade highs a year ago.
A related metric, the Consumer Price Index, increased 3.7% in September, compared with a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Thursday.
Still, while the rate of increase has slowed, prices remain high.
Still struggling
Though the annual adjustment is aimed at helping Social Security’s roughly 71 million recipients contend with rising prices, benefits haven’t actually kept pace for years. Many older Americans rely heavily on their monthly payments to cover their living expenses.
Inflation has caused Social Security payments to lose 36% of their buying power since 2000, according to a study released earlier this year by The Senior Citizens League. Monthly benefits would have to increase by $517 to maintain the same level of buying power as in 2000.
Tom and Susan Freyer of Palmdale, California, are feeling the pinch. The couple, who depend largely on Social Security and her small teacher’s pension, were able to set aside enough funds five years ago to celebrate their anniversary with a weekend in Newport Beach. That’s out of the…
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