A new analysis on Social Security, the country’s most popular, most supported program, reflects what AFGE has been saying all along: Staffing cuts will hurt the American people who rely on Social Security.
Due to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s reckless cuts, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has lost 7,000 employees since January. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), that’s the largest staffing cut in SSA’s history, which will translate into much delayed services to the beneficiaries. In fact, one staff member now serves 1,480 beneficiaries, which is over three times as many as in 1967.
In short, the number of beneficiaries has gone up while the number of workers serving them has gone down. And as we all know, benefits delayed are benefits denied.
SSA management hasn’t come up with a solution to fix the problem yet.
Their Band-Aid strategy is to fix staffing holes as they arise by transferring employees to different positions. But it’s not doing anyone any good and may actually harm beneficiaries.
IT help desk employees, for example, will now be making disability decisions while HR specialists will be required to master SSA’s complex benefit rules. Reassignments of IT staff have resulted in frequent system outages as they’re not there to maintain the complex web systems.
“Reassignment is creating even deeper holes in headquarters and regional offices that provide crucial support for their colleagues,” said the report. “For example, field office staff are struggling to resolve the most difficult cases, due to disproportionate losses and reassignments in SSA’s regional offices, which provide daily support to their colleagues in the field by answering complex policy questions and troubleshooting system problems.
The report predicted bigger backlogs and longer delays due to SSA trying to do more with fewer, less experienced employees.
But newly minted SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano insisted that hiring enough workers to do the work is not a priority for the agency. Bisignano told lawmakers last week that SSA would rather focus on “technology” – ignoring that new technologies can be especially difficult to use and access for the elderly and people with disabilities.
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