When you read a story in the news about Social Security what’s it usually about? I am guessing about the financial future of the program—whether younger people will get Social Security 20, 30 or 40 years from now. Today, politicians have a variety of ideas on how to ensure the program’s long-term success. How this will all shake out remains to be seen.

What you don’t hear as often is the customer service experience at the Social Security Administration (SSA). According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), in the past 15 months, the administration’s policies have caused the SSA to lose about 8,000 employees. To put this in perspective, the SSA has fewer employees than it did in 1967, when it served 52 million fewer people. That’s fewer people for more customer service needs.

The pain of staffing reductions has spread across the country. The Center for American Progress (CAP) reported from 2024 to 2025, 33 states had their SSA staff reduced by at least 10%. In Arkansas, K8 published an article that reported the state only had 265 field office workers, leaving an overwhelming ratio of field office employees to beneficiaries of 1:2,989. 

To say there is a staffing shortage is an understatement.

Examining further, CBPP wrote that SSA field offices and the National 800 Number have lost 3,000 employees. Predictably, this has caused waiting times to increase, forcing current employees to fill vacant roles, creating new problems.  Plus, people now staffing the phones don’t have the necessary background to answer questions. In addition, the SSA Office of Inspector General reported that in 2025, the average wait time for a call was 45 minutes to two hours. It should be noted the SSA doesn’t publish the wait times for people who opt to wait for a call back.

These changes have translated into poor results. The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) conducted surveys of 800 people who work for the SSA. The surveys reported that 84% said their workloads have increased during the past year, 70% reported that customer service speed had worsened, and 65% reported the quality of service has decreased.

The impact is being felt today and could have lasting consequences. According to the CBPP, at the start of the year only 850 of the SSA’s employees had worked in the federal government for under two years and fewer than 7,800 for under five. These are the lowest levels in 20 years.  This begs the question of whether Social Security will have the appropriate staffing levels in the future to replace retiring employees.

SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a statement to The Washington Post the agency will having a digital-first approach.

While I applaud making the SSA more accessible online, it can’t be at the expense of in-person assistance. The SSA mainly serves seniors, who at times are not comfortable with the digital world. We all have family members who aren’t as computer-proficient in their day-to-day activities. So, it’s head-scratching why the SSA is staffing down its in-person and over-the-phone assistance.

In Fiscal Year 2025 the SSA revealed it received 94 million calls and 31.6 million field office visits. That’s about 125 million personal interactions. Even with technological improvements, something tells me the SSA needs a healthy staff to assist its customers.  

Social Security is a popular and successful program which millions of people rely on to support their basic needs. The government should be making the SSA as accessible as possible to beneficiaries. It should not be more challenging for people to access their hard-earned benefits.  

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Evan Carmen, Esq. is the Legislative Director for Aging Policy at the B’nai B’rith International Center for Senior Services. Click here to read more from Evan Carmen.