Number of the Day: $23 a Month
Social Security

Number of the Day: $23 a Month

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The Social Security Administration on Thursday said the cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 would be 1.6%. That translates to a bump of about $23 on the average monthly benefit of $1,460.

The 2020 COLA for the nation’s nearly 69 million Social Security recipients is a bit higher than the 10-year average of 1.4%, but it’s lower than the increase in the last two years – 2.8% in 2019 and 2.0% in 2018.

Inflation adjustments were higher during the 2000-2010 period due to higher inflation, averaging 3%, according to The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan advocacy group that supports a COLA of at least 3% each year. The group is calling on the Social Security Administration to switch to a different measure of inflation that they say will result in more accurate measurement of cost increases affecting the elderly. A League spokeswoman said that according to their analysis, Social Security benefits have lost about a third of their purchasing power since 2000.

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