Social Security Expands by Nearly 20,000 People

Thousands of beneficiaries were added to the Social Security system last month, data from the administration showed.

In June, there were nearly 67.9 million recipients of Social Security benefits, about 20,000 more than in May. June saw $120.9 million paid to beneficiaries after May registered $120.66 million in payments. The average monthly outlays, however, barely changed to $1,781 last month from $1,778 in May.

The number of people who received payment from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) increased slightly from 7.395 million in May to 7.397 million in June, the data showed. The total in SSI outlays for June ticked down to about $5.41 compared to the prior month’s $5.42, while the average monthly payments of about $700 were largely unchanged.

Social Security has been the subject of debate over its future with some analysts suggesting that it could exhaust its funding in about a decade, a development that could lead to pared-down payments for retirees. The trust fund that collects and disburses the benefits currently at $2.8 trillion could be drained by 2033, experts have said, without significant reforms to the system. But that would not mean that benefits will cease abruptly, according to Steve Goss, the Social Security Administration’s chief actuary.

“We’re projecting at that point in time, if we have used up our trust fund reserves, the continuing income will be equivalent to 80 percent of what we need to pay the full scheduled benefits on a timely basis,” Goss said last year.

One challenge that beneficiaries have been grappling with over the last few years has been how inflationary pressures has put considerable strains on their benefits.

In 2023, retirees received cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA, that shot up nearly 9 percent. Slowing inflation has led to the COLA declining and next year it could come in at about 2.3 percent by some estimates. This was after the rate of price increases fell in June.

But retirees have complained that despite the cooling of inflation, prices were still elevated, pinching their incomes.

“Although easing inflation should relieve older consumers, the rapidly increasing price of groceries the 2020s have seen thus far mean financial relief is still far away,” The Senior Citizens League said last week.

Between 2020 to 2023, the cost of groceries shot up 24 percent, they pointed out, creating a challenge of affording food. Sixty-percent of retirees surveyed by the seniors group named food as the fastest-growing expense in their monthly outlays.