As the government shutdown reached Day 3 on Friday, the agency that produces economic data may have to delay the release of its annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) plan for next year’s Social Security payments.
Generally, the Social Security Administration (SSA) releases its COLA for the upcoming year sometime in mid-October after it calculates the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners measure of inflation for July, August, and September. Last year’s announcement by the SSA was on Oct. 10, 2024, for the 2025 payments.
However, the Department of Labor said in a shutdown contingency plan released in late September that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will “suspend all operations” during the shutdown, which was initiated on Oct. 1 after Congress couldn’t reach an agreement on a stopgap funding bill….