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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><h3 align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><span style='font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt;font-weight:normal'>Social Security Announces 5.9 Percent Benefit Increase for 2022<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will increase 5.9 percent in 2022, the Social Security Administration announced today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>The 5.9 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2022. Increased payments to approximately 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2021. (Note: some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits). The Social Security Act ties the annual COLA to the increase in the Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Some other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $147,000 from $142,800.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Social Security and SSI beneficiaries are normally notified by mail starting in early December about their new benefit amount. Most people who receive Social Security payments will be able to view their COLA notice online through their personal </span><span class=my><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#CC0000;letter-spacing:.1pt'>my</span></i></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> </span><span class=ssa><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#336699;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Social Security</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> account. People may create or access their </span><span class=my><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#CC0000;letter-spacing:.1pt'>my</span></i></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> </span><span class=ssa><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#336699;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Social Security</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> account online at <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/myaccount"><span style='color:#1155CC'>www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Information about Medicare changes for 2022, when announced, will be available at <a href="https://www.medicare.gov/"><span style='color:#1155CC'>www.medicare.gov</span></a>. For Social Security beneficiaries receiving Medicare, Social Security will not be able to compute their new benefit amount until after the Medicare premium amounts for 2022 are announced. Final 2022 benefit amounts will be communicated to beneficiaries in December through the mailed COLA notice and </span><span class=my><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#CC0000;letter-spacing:.1pt'>my</span></i></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> </span><span class=ssa><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#336699;letter-spacing:.1pt'>Social Security's</span></span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> Message Center.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>The Social Security Act provides for how the COLA is calculated. To read more, please visit <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/cola/"><span style='color:#1155CC'>www.socialsecurity.gov/cola</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white;box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><strong><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS:</span></strong><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'> Here is a <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/colafacts2022.pdf"><span style='color:#1155CC'>fact sheet</span></a> showing the effect of the various automatic adjustments.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='box-sizing: inherit;margin:1.25rem;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px'><em><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Roboto;color:#212121;letter-spacing:.1pt'>To get more Social Security news, follow the Press Office on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/SSAPress"><span style='color:#1155CC'>@SSAPress</span></a>.</span></em><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>