cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2023, according to recent estimates. These cost-of-living adjustments have been in place since 1975 as a way to adequately keep pace with inflation. The COLAs are based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the previous year to the corresponding quarter of the current year, according to the Social Security Administration. Beneficiaries can expect the final COLA to be released on Thursday following the release of the inflation figures for September, according to the Senior Citizens League, a group that lobbies for older adults. An 8.7%-boost would be the highest COLA increase since 1981 when the inflation adjustment was 11.2%. For the average retiree who got a monthly check of $1,656 this year, an adjustment of 8.7% would boost the payment by $144.10, the Senior Citizens League said. FILE - In this photo illustration, a Social Security card sits alongside checks from the U.S.
Treasury on Oct. 14, 2021, in Washington, D.C.
(Photo illustration by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) "A COLA of 8.7% is extremely rare and would be the highest ever received by most Social Security beneficiaries alive today," the Senior Citizens League said in a statement last month. "There were only three other times since the start of automatic adjustments that it was higher (1979-1981).""Without a COLA that adequately keeps pace with inflation, Social Security benefits purchase less and less over time, and that can create hardships especially as older Americans live longer lives in retirement," the group’s statement added.FILE - A shopper looks at organic produce at a supermarket in Montebello, California, on Aug.
23, 2022. (Photo by
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