Social Security payments to jump 5.9% in 2022, largest increase in 39 years

Retirees who depend on Social Security will see their payments jump next year.

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The Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that the cost of living adjustment or COLA, will be a 5.9% increase, the largest amount in 39 years, The Associated Press reported. The adjustment will affect about 70 million people across the country.

Recent annual increases were only about 1.65% over the past decade.

Retirees will see about $92 extra dollars a month on average, the AP reported.

A single retired worker will see an average Social Security payment of $1,657. A couple will get on average $2,753 a month, an increase of $154.

The rise in funds couldn’t come at a better time for some.

Retiree Cliff Rumsey said he has seen the prices of food, caregiver wages and energy costs have been going up since the coronavirus pandemic started.

“It goes pretty quickly,” Rumsey said in reference to his recent COLA increases.

But the increase may not be enough to offset inflation.

“What we are hearing is that even with the COLA, buying power will still be eroded because price increases are still going up,” analyst Mary Johnson of the nonpartisan Senior Citizens League advocacy group, told the AP.

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