By Rebecca Shabad -
NBC News
The Social Security Administration announced Wednesday that the benefit checks of millions of people will increase by 5.9%, the largest adjustment in decades, starting in January.
This increase, which will affect almost 70 million people, is due to
the rise in inflation
caused by problems in supply chains, a shortage of workers and other difficulties derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Social Security card.Jenny Kane / AP
By the end of December, some eight million beneficiaries of the Supplemental Security Income program of Social Security,
aimed at people with disabilities or with little income
, will also begin to have higher payments.
[This costs to feed a family of four for two days in the US]
Data released this Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that
prices rose 5.4%
in September compared to the same month last year,
and the inflation rate increased by 0.4% seasonally adjusted in September compared to August.
"Some other adjustments that go into effect in January of each year are based on the median wage increase. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax (maximum taxable) will increase to $ 147,000 from $ 142,800, "the Social Security Administration explained Wednesday.
[The rise in the price of gasoline will make "all corners of the economy more expensive," experts warn]
Generally, the COLA increase has been 1% to 2% each year.
However, at the height of the Great Recession in 2009, benefits rose 5.8% for 50 million people, which at the time was the largest increase in more than a century.