The annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security benefits in 2022 — usually announced in October — could be 5.3%, the highest since 2009, based on Thursday's Consumer Price Index announcement, according to Social Security and Medicare policy analyst Mary Johnson of The Senior Citizens League, who estimated the 2022 COLA at 4.7% a month ago.
The consumer price index in May rose 5% from 12 months earlier, which is the largest yearly gain since August 2008, the Labor Department reported Thursday. From April, the CPI grew 0.6%, representing the second-largest advance in over a decade.
The year-over-year figure surpassed the estimated 4.7% jump that economists surveyed by Dow Jones had anticipated.
