The government shutdown, with Republicans controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, is poised to claim more victims — Social Security recipients who depend on their annual cost-of-living increases which allows them to keep pace with inflation.

According to a report from NOTUS, October has normally been the month when the Social Security Administration analyzes the data and comes up with a percentage increase, something seniors look forward to.

However, with the workers furloughed, that data will not be forthcoming soon, leaving the SSA and recipients in the dark.

According to the report, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is tasked with pulling together the numbers. But there is only one person working on it since the office was emptied of government analysts who have been furloughed.

NOTUS reported BLS is scheduled to release the September Consumer Price Index data, which measures average cost-of-living changes, in two weeks but it is unlikely to report on time with only one staffer pulling together the information.

“If the shutdown continues and more workers aren’t brought back within a month, the Social Security Administration’s work of calculating the percentage adjustment and notifying recipients of their benefit increases could be delayed," the report states.

Ex-Commissioner Martin O’Malley pointed out, ”Recipients wait with bated breath for that number. But the people who would calculate that at the Bureau of Labor Statistics aren’t coming to work in the shutdown. And this is when all of that stuff is supposed to get done.”

The report adds that, normally, “the BLS would average out the data into the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers and publish it by mid-October,” but that target date may not be reached.

"In January of 2025, increased Social Security benefits for nearly 73 million Americans rose 2.5 percent. For now, the Social Security Administration can run close estimates without the final September price index. But calculating benefit changes is not as easy as copying and pasting the BLS’s numbers, former leaders of the Social Security Administration said."