The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the agency tasked with ensuring that the Social Security program runs smoothly and that there are no delays with regard to benefit payments for the tens of millions of vulnerable Americans who rely on their monthly benefit income.
At the beginning of the year, in February, the Trump administration announced that it plans to reduce the workforce at the SSA by 12%, which amounts to around 7,000 workers.
The Department of Government Efficiency (which was headed by Elon Musk at the time) was also introduced to the SSA with the goal of enacting cutbacks.
These cutbacks appear to be taking a toll on staffing at field offices, with 30% of offices losing around 10% of staff over a one-year period, according to an analysis conducted by the Strategic Organizing Center. Here is what you need to know.
Staffing crisis at the Social Security Administration seems to worsen
In February, the Trump administration announced that it would be downsizing the workforce at the SSA by 12% over the course of fiscal year 2025. Likely in pursuit of this goal, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reportedly offered buyouts to some 2,500 employees—the vast majority (close to 80%) of whom were field-office workers.
According to the SSA, this workforce reduction is being implemented as part of the agency’s efforts to “prioritize customer service.”
These cutbacks, however, seem to be having the opposite effect of what was intended, with some employees arguing that “the Trump administration’s hiring freeze and efforts to force out employees with early retirement and buyout offers made a tough situation worse.”
Reducing staff at the agency may cut some costs; however, understaffed field offices could potentially result in delays for beneficiaries who are looking to apply for benefits or have any other query addressed.
“When it takes too long to get your benefits into your bank account after you file because of the understaffing situation, you’re going months and months without needed income that was promised to you because you paid in your whole life,” explains Jessica LaPointe, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220.
Almost all states across the U.S. hit with SSA workforce reduction
The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a nonprofit advocacy organization that partners with unions and workers, recently conducted an analysis which revealed that people are now facing lengthier wait times when replacing identity cards, applying for benefits, or simply trying to get a question answered.
The analysis compares data over a one-year period from March 2024 to March 2025, and during this time a total of forty-six states and Washington, D.C., experienced a reduction in workforce at SSA field offices.
Of the remaining four states, staffing levels in two remained unchanged, while the other two states (Nebraska and Alaska) recorded growth in field-office staff numbers. However, according to the SOC, the two states “only added a combined total of seven staff members.”
The states with the most notably sized staff reductions were Wyoming, Montana, West Virginia, Hawaii, and New Mexico. Wyoming had the highest recorded loss of field-office staff, with a 17% reduction. Montana lost 14%, West Virginia lost 11%, Hawaii downsized by 11% as well, and New Mexico dropped by 10%.
The SOC’s report also noted that “many of the places experiencing large Social Security staffing losses are rural communities or places with a high density of tribal land, which creates for their residents the extra barrier of longer travel time to local offices, along with less access to stable internet or a computer to get online services, which can lead to even more time spent waiting for service.”