Social Security field offices report widespread staffing losses

Social Security Administration field offices across the country may have lost 20 percent of their staff since March 2024, according to estimates by Axios and the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions.

The unions estimated that field offices — where Americans can apply for benefits and deal with the agency face-to-face — had altogether lost about 5 percent of their staff by March. Hawaii (11 percent), Montana (14 percent), and New Mexico (10 percent) were among the states most impacted.

Tack onto that the nearly 2,000 field workers who took the Trump administration’s voluntary buyout, along with the reassignment of about 1,000 local call center representatives to staff the agency’s overwhelmed national hotline. Axios estimated the total reductions account for about 20 percent of the Social Security workforce from March 2024.

The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The Department of Government Efficiency has also looked to let lapse the leases of at least 26 field offices this year.

The Social Security Administration said in a July press release that it slashed average wait times at field offices to 23 minutes, down from 30 minutes last year. It also said it dramatically reduced the average waiting time for a phone call to just six minutes this week, down from an 18-minute average for the rest of the year. 

The trust fund that supplies Social Security has also been accelerating towards insolvency, with latest estimates saying the agency may no longer be able to fulfill all claims as soon as late 2032.