Overview

• Roughly 12% of the Social Security Administration’s workforce—about 7,000 jobs—was cut earlier this year, worsening long-standing service shortfalls.
• Union data show 1,230 field office workers disappeared from March through August, and about 1,000 more were reassigned in July to the national phone lines.
• Many customers now face waits of around six weeks just to get an appointment for a replacement Social Security card, with reports of unanswered or misrouted calls.
• The agency says service on its National 800 Number has improved without harming field offices and is pursuing digital SSN cards and automated simple retirement claims.
• Preliminary academic findings cite worsening access and severe consequences such as eviction and loss of health care, while frontline workers report extremely low morale and stress.