Social Security benefits going up 5.9% next year - because that's been the inflation rate

From the Wall Street Journal -

Seniors and other Americans receiving Social Security benefits in 2022 will see the largest increase in their payments in four decades, reflecting surging inflation during the pandemic.

Next year’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, will be 5.9%, the Social Security Administration said Wednesday. The increase will translate to an addition of $92 to retirees’ average monthly benefit next year, bringing the amount to $1,657, the agency estimates.

The nearly 6% cost-of-living adjustment is the largest since 1982, according to Social Security Administration data. The adjustment is calculated based on the Labor Department’s measure of inflation faced by blue-collar workers.

The Labor Department said its broader measure of inflation, the consumer-price index, rose 5.4% in September from a year earlier, the largest annual gain since 2008.