Price growth is cooling across the economy. While that is good news for consumers, the timing of this progress on inflation could end up short-changing seniors and other Social Security recipients when they learn their annual cost-of-living increase later this year.

According to the latest estimate from The Senior Citizens League, which regularly forecasts Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, Social Security recipients can expect their monthly checks to increase by 2.63% — essentially unchanged from the 2.57% it forecast last month.

The Social Security Administration calculates the annual COLA change by taking the average measure of the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, or CPI-W — a slightly different version of the regular CPI — for July, August and September of the given year. It typically announces the official COLA change in October.

But using that methodology means Social Security recipients’ checks can start falling behind the overall pace of inflation, according to The Senior Citizens League: Price surges can occur — and abate — at any time of the year, and the COLA may not account for those changes, said the organization’s Social Security and Medicare statistician, Alex Moore, managing partner at Blacksmith Professional Services.

That is what has been happening in the pandemic and post-pandemic economy: From January 2020 to December 2023, the CPI-W increased exactly 20% — while the COLA increases have totaled only 19%.

A matching increase over that period would have netted Social Security recipients an extra $10 in their monthly payments by 2024, according to NBC News calculations.

For fixed-income recipients, every bit counts: In the league’s most recent membership survey, 34% of retirees said they had visited a food pantry or applied for food stamps over the last 12 months.

“About 50% of senior households depend on Social Security as the difference between [staying out of] poverty,” Moore said.

Side hustlers are hustling a little less but making more when they do.

About 36% of U.S. adults say they make extra money from a side job beyond their main source of income, according to a survey the consumer finance platform Bankrate released Wednesday. That’s down from 39% last year, when side-hustlers were earning a bit less. The average side gig now nets $891 a month, up 10% since 2023 — well ahead of inflation.

The findings add up to “a more positive view” of the side-hustle economy, said Ted Rossman, Bankrate’s senior credit card analyst. But he cautioned that “things still aren’t great.”

“About twice as many people are side hustling now versus 2017,” Rossman said, “and it’s alarming that even in a good job market so many people need a secondary source of income.” Even so, the latest survey data looks like “progress” as inflation cools, he said.

The Bankrate findings come one day before the closely watched consumer price index will deliver a fresh inflation snapshot for June, marking two years since the latest bout of price increases peaked at 9.1%. Economists expect annual inflation to have cooled to 3.1% last month from 3.3% in May, and the rate has barely budged since last summer. 

But workers’ pay has changed for the better, relative to prices.

Average hourly earnings rose 3.9% last month since the year before, federal data shows. And while the labor market is cooling down, there are still more openings than job-seekers looking to fill them after a long-feared wave of mass layoffs failed to materialize.

Dreon Owens recently took on a side project on top of a full-time job paying $100,000 a year.Dreon Owens

On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers that the economy no longer looks overheated and “the labor market appears to be fully back in balance.”

A little over half of side-hustlers started gigging in 2022, when inflation was running much hotter, Bankrate found. Last year, people with side jobs were more likely to rely on them to subsidize daily living costs than to fund discretionary spending like travel or dining out (33% and 27%, respectively). But today, those shares are roughly equal (36% and 37%).

Dreon Owens, a 32-year-old who lives in Brooklyn, New York, isn’t among those easing up on side-hustling this year.

After scraping by with side projects since getting laid off during the pandemic, Owens finally landed a full-time position managing a housing nonprofit group in late 2022. But in May he took on a human resources consulting contract that he said brings in as much as $2,500 a month on top of the $100,000 annual salary from his day job.

“We’ve been beat over the head and kind of gooped into paying these extra prices when it wasn’t necessary,” Owens said, echoing concerns about so-called greedflation, in which some consumer advocates have accused corporations of hiking prices more than their own costs have risen.

“Additional income is always very helpful under this good old system of capitalism,” he said.

Consumers increasingly expect inflation to creep down further in the next 12 months, a New York Fed report found Monday. But consumer sentiment has remained tepid at best this year and many household budgets are still under stress.

After Owens’ father died last fall, he has been sending money home to help out his mother and younger siblings. But his application for a New York City housing program that helps residents find affordable rentals recently moved forward. He’s eager to leave the three-bedroom apartment he shares with two roommates, where his chunk of monthly rent comes to $1,800, but he’s also preparing to pay at least $500 more to live alone in a studio or one-bedroom.

With his freelance gig, Owens said, “I have the ability to hang with my friends, travel a little bit, go back home to see my family without having to cower in a corner thinking: Should I do this? Can I afford this? It brings about that sense of relief.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday expressed concern that holding interest rates too high for too long could jeopardize economic growth.

Setting the stage for a two-day appearance on Capitol Hill this week, the central bank leader said the economy remains strong as does the labor market, despite some recent cooling. Powell cited some easing in inflation, which he said policymakers stay resolute in bringing down to their 2% goal.

“At the same time, in light of the progress made both in lowering inflation and in cooling the labor market over the past two years, elevated inflation is not the only risk we face,” he said in prepared remarks. “Reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment.”

The commentary coincides with the approaching anniversary of the last time the Federal Open Market Committee raised benchmark interest rates.

The Fed’s overnight borrowing rate currently sits in a rage of 5.25%-5.50%, the highest level in some 23 years and the product of 11 consecutive hikes after inflation hit its highest level since the early 1980s.

Markets expect the Fed to begin cutting rates in September and likely following up with another quarter percentage point reduction by the end of the year. FOMC members at their June meeting, however, indicated just one cut.

In recent days, Powell and his colleagues have indicated that inflation data has been somewhat encouraging after a surprise jump to start the year. Inflation as judged by the Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditures price index was at 2.6% in May after peaking above 7% in June 2022.

“After a lack of progress toward our 2 percent inflation objective in the early part of this year, the most recent monthly readings have shown modest further progress,” Powell said. “More good data would strengthen our confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent.”

The statement is part of congressionally mandated semiannual updates on monetary policy. After delivering the remarks, Powell will face questioning from Senate Banking Committee members on Tuesday, then the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

In past appearances, Powell has veered away from making dramatic policy announcements while having to dodge politically loaded questions from committee members. The questioning could get contentious this year as Washington is on edge amid a volatile presidential campaign.

Several Democratic committee members urged Powell to lower rates soon.

“I’m concerned that if the Fed waits too long to lower rates, the Fed could undo the undo the progress we’ve made on creating good paying jobs,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the committee chair, told Powell. “If unemployment trends upward, you must act immediately to protect Americans jobs. Workers have too much to lose if the Fed overshoots [its] inflation target and causes a completely unnecessary recession.”

However, Powell has stressed that the Fed is not political and does not get involved in taking policy sides outside of its own roles. In his prepared remarks, he emphasized the importance of “the operational independence that is needed” for the Fed to do its job.

His other remarks focused squarely on the stance of policy in relation to the broader economy. Recent data has shown the unemployment rate creeping higher and broad growth as measured by gross domestic product receding. Both the manufacturing and services sectors reported being in contraction during June.

But Powell said the data is showing that “the U.S. economy continues to expand at a solid pace” despite the deceleration in GDP.

“Private domestic demand remains robust, however, with slower but still-solid increases in consumer spending,” he said.

Editor’s note: This is part of NBC News’ Checkbook Chronicles, a series of profiles highlighting the financial realities of everyday Americans.

Doug Sharp isn’t a rich man — but he has played one in Hollywood.

Sharp, 59, lives in Los Angeles and until recently got the bulk of his income by driving for Uber and Lyft while moonlighting as a paid extra.

It’s the chance to earn the spotlight and work with others who share his passion for acting that keeps him going after years of having failed to find any other kind of full-time work.

Primary source of income: Sharp says he struggles to make ends meet, having survived the past few years on a generous pandemic unemployment reimbursement.

He has begun taking delivery orders on UberEats, but he said the pay barely makes it worth it.

What keeps Sharp going is acting — a notoriously fickle endeavor but one he says has upside potential. He recently got a small speaking part in a coming production featuring at least two Hollywood A-listers — and saw his daily pay rate go from about $200 to nearly $1,200.

‘The money for background is good, and there’s always the possibility of being upgraded to principal,’ he said. ‘That has happened to me — I have not found a replacement for it.’

Still, it’s not consistent enough for him to obtain full Screen Actors Guild benefits, so his health insurance is through Medicaid.

Living situation: Sharp lives alone and said his housing situation is unstable. It includes periodically renting from a friend, as well as an unauthorized arrangement he wasn’t comfortable discussing on the record.

Economic outlook: After nearly a decade of making steady pay driving for Uber and Lyft, Sharp has effectively quit both platforms for now, in part, he said, because their base pay and regular rates are no longer enough make it worth it to use them, especially for what’s needed to live in Los Angeles.

Acting remains enjoyable — Sharp said he isn’t a celebrity hound and simply enjoys being around other people.

‘The older you get, the less parts there are,’ he said. ‘However, the pool of older guys is smaller — and shockingly I always play the rich white guy, because that’s what I look like. But I didn’t I know look like a rich white guy until I started playing one.’

Yet the gigs have hardly been steady enough to make a career out of.

‘What I can tell you is I barely work,’ Sharp said. ‘In May I worked two days, in April I worked four days, in March I worked two days, in February I worked two days, in January I worked one day.’

Budget pain points: Sharp struggles buying basic necessities, to the point that he found himself recently trying to return goods around his residence to Home Depot and Walmart for cash or credit.

He owns a car, a Fiat 500, but is trying to obtain a new one through a rental company so he can get back to driving for Uber and Lyft — even at the reduced rates. However, he’s not sure his credit score will be good enough for him to obtain the new vehicle.

Outlook: Sharp said he basically started his life over in his 40s, when he got a business degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. But he graduated in 2013, when the economy was still emerging from the global financial crisis, and he couldn’t land a job.

Uber, and later Lyft, provided a lifeline, and he enjoyed the work. But over the years, their rates got lower and lower.

Still, returning to those platforms remains his key financial objective.

In the meantime, Sharp struggles with depression and anxiety.

‘The one thing people hate are educated white men who look rich but who are poor,’ Sharp said. ‘They think, ‘Oh, he must be lazy or on drugs. What is his problem?’ I get this — I’ve watched my friend group move away.’

‘I am ashamed about where I am in my life as it relates to my finances and not knowing how to fix it,” he continued.

Finding a full-time job — even at a fast-food restaurant, and even in a labor market that the Federal Reserve says remains relatively healthy — has been a lot more difficult than one might imagine.

‘I do qualify for food stamps; I do qualify for [Medicaid],’ he said. ‘I’m not embarrassed about that, but when I’m willing to work — and bust my ass — why is it that I can’t get a living wage?’

Ironically, fast-food jobs are now quite difficult to obtain, Sharp said, not least because their hourly wages are higher than in many other industries thanks to California’s new $20 minimum wage for workers in the sector.

‘It’s embarrassing, because it seems like there’s a piece of the puzzle that I’m not telling,’ Sharp said. ‘I’m doing everything I can.’

The National Football League is considering allowing minority private equity ownership for its 32 teams of up to 10%, Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an exclusive CNBC interview Thursday.

“As sports evolve, we want to make sure our policies reflect that,” Goodell said in an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin at Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley Conference. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of interest [from private equity firms], and we believe this could make sense for us in a limited fashion, probably no more than 10% of a team. That would be something we think could complement our ownership and support our ownership policies.”

The NFL hopes to set its new ownership policies by the end of the year, Goodell said. The 10% cap would be a starting point, and the league is open to raising it in time, he said.

While other major U.S. sports leagues, including the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer all allow private equity ownership of up to 30%, the NFL has resisted taking money from institutional funds, such as private equity, preferring limited partners to be individuals or families.

But franchise valuations have steadily risen as the NFL has signed lucrative media deals, meaning fewer people can afford team ownership. In 2023, Josh Harris, co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, headed a group that paid $6.05 billion for the Washington Commanders — the most money ever spent on a U.S. professional sports franchise.

“Unless you’re one of the wealthiest 50 people [in the world], writing a $5 billion equity check is pretty hard for anyone,” Harris told CNBC “Squawk Box” co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin at the CNBC CEO Council Summit in Washington, D.C., last month.

Harris tapped 20 people to help raise money for his bid, including former NBA superstar Magic Johnson; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; and David Blitzer, the Blackstone Group senior executive who previously partnered with Harris to buy the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.

“Raising that amount of capital was unique; it had never been done before,” Harris said. “I think it may be leading to some rethink into the consideration of letting private equity, as an example, or institutional investors into the NFL.”

The National Women’s Soccer League allows private equity firms to take majority control of franchise teams, unlike the other U.S. professional sports leagues. Private equity incentives around reaching investment targets and exit thresholds could alter the motivations for ownership in ways that make the bigger sports leagues uncomfortable.

Minority stakes typically come with little or no decision-making power on the team. That is likely comforting to the NFL if it allows private equity investors, but it has also limited the number of individuals interested in taking smaller stakes in teams.

“These people are really rich and successful. They’re used to being the center of the universe. And now you go, I need a quarter of a billion dollars. Fantastic, what do I get? Nothing,” Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics, told ESPN in May. “Do you have any control? Any role? No, you’re passive investors. You’ll get your name on a website somewhere or something and you get to tell people I own a piece of an NFL team.”

Private equity firms, tasked with finding investment vehicles to make returns on their assets under management, may be better suited to minority ownership.

Editor’s note: This is part of NBC News’ Checkbook Chronicles, a series of profiles highlighting the financial realities of everyday Americans.

Doug Sharp isn’t a rich man — but he has played one in Hollywood.

Sharp, 59, lives in L.A. and until recently got the bulk of his income by driving for Uber and Lyft, while moonlighting as a paid extra.

It’s the chance to earn the spotlight and others who share his passion for acting that keeps him going after years of failing to find any other kind of full-time work.

Primary source of income: Sharp says he struggles to make ends meet, having survived the past few years off a generous pandemic unemployment reimbursement.

He has begun taking delivery orders on UberEats, but said the pay on that platform barely makes it worth it.

What keeps Sharp going is acting — a notoriously fickle endeavor but one he says has upside potential. He recently obtained a small speaking part in an upcoming production featuring at least two Hollywood A-listers — and saw his daily pay rate go from about $200 to nearly $1,200.

‘The money for background is good, and there’s always the possibility of being upgraded to principal,’ he said. ‘That has happened to me — I have not found a replacement for it.’

Still, it’s not consistent enough for him to obtain full Screen Actors Guild benefits, so his health insurance is through Medicaid.

Living situation: Sharp lives alone, and said his housing situation is unstable. It includes periodically renting from a friend as well as an unauthorized arrangement he wasn’t comfortable discussing on the record.

Economic outlook: After nearly a decade of making steady pay driving for Uber and Lyft, Sharp has effectively quit both platforms for now, in part because, he said, their base pay and regular rates are no longer enough make it worth it to utilize the platforms, especially for what’s needed to live in Los Angeles.

Acting remains enjoyable — Sharp said he is not a celebrity hound and simply enjoys being around other people.

‘The older you get, the less parts there are,’ he said. ‘However the pool of older guys is smaller — and shockingly I always play the rich white guy, because that’s what I look like. But I didn’t I know look like rich white guy until started playing one.’

Yet the gigs have been hardly steady enough to make a career out of.

‘What I can tell you is I barely work,’ Sharp said. ‘In May I worked two days, in April I worked four days, in March I worked two days, in February, I worked two days, in January, I worked one day.’

Budget pain points: Sharp struggles with buying basic necessities, to the point that he found himself recently trying to return goods around his residence back to Home Depot and Walmart for cash or credit.

He owns a car, a Fiat 500, but is trying to obtain a new one through a rental company so that he can get back to driving for Uber and Lyft — even at the reduced rates. However, he’s not sure his credit score will be good enough for him to obtain the new vehicle.

Outlook: Sharp said he basically started his life over in his 40s, when he obtained a business degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. But he graduated in 2013, when the economy was still emerging from the global financial crisis, and couldn’t land a job.

Uber, and later Lyft, provided a lifeline, and he enjoyed the work. But over the years, their rates got lower and lower.

Still, returning to those platforms remains his key financial objective.

In the meantime, Sharp struggles with depression and anxiety.

‘The one thing people hate are educated white men, who look rich but who are poor,’ Sharp said. ‘They think ‘Oh, he must be lazy, or on drugs what is his problem? I get this — I’ve watched my friend group move away.’

‘I am ashamed about where I am in my life as it relates to my finances and not knowing how to fix it,” he continued.

Finding a full-time job — even at a fast-food restaurant, and even in a labor market that the Federal Reserve says remains relatively healthy — has been a lot more difficult than one might imagine.

‘I do qualify for food stamps, I do qualify for [Medicaid],’ he said. ‘I’m not embarrassed about that, but when I’m willing to work — and bust my ass, why is it that I can’t get a living wage?’

Ironically, fast-food jobs are now quite difficult to obtain, Sharp said, not least because their hourly wages are now higher than in many other industries thanks to California’s new $20 minimum wage for workers in the sector.

‘It’s embarrassing because it seems like there’s a piece of the puzzle that I’m not telling,’ Sharp said. ‘I’m doing everything I can.’