Government shutdown delays Social Security's cost-of-living announcement. Here's what to know.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I added some previous OPs with articles about what was happening

but what they rely on is the September inflation data - in this case, the CPI-W, which was supposed to have been released at the beginning of the month today. Normally once that is released, the final compilation is done across the designated quarters, and that would have allowed release of the final COLA info Oct. 15.

But since most of the BLS staff (but not all) were furloughed, they can't do "more with the less" (the oft-annoyingly repeated government mantra) and thus it takes longer with fewer people, to do the calcs. The data was supposedly in before the lapse so they do have that.