The Social Security Administration says it plans to cut some $7,000 jobs

By Ashley Lopez, Jenna McLaughlin - NPR, February 28, 2025

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced Friday that it aims to cut some 7,000 jobs to align with an executive order from President Trump to broadly slash the federal workforce.

The planned job cuts are raising concerns about staffing at the agency that disburses retirement benefits, as well as disability and survivor benefits, to tens of millions of Americans.

"The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services," the SSA said in a news release Friday afternoon. "Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees."

Advocates say long wait times for services have plagued the agency for years, and its current staffing is already at about a 50-year low.

Ahead of the looming broader cuts, a number of senior staff members have departed the SSA, including at least five of eight people in the influential role of regional commissioner, according to a staffing memo shared with NPR by a senior SSA official who was not authorized to speak to the press.

"SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable," the Friday news release said. "The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions."

Morale at the agency is extremely low, the senior SSA source said, as staff members are crying in meetings and managers are trying to reassure their employees during a time of great uncertainty.

"The public is going to suffer terribly as a result of this," the source wrote to NPR. "Local field offices will close, hold times will increase, and people will be sicker, hungry, or die when checks don't arrive or a disability hearing is delayed just one month too late."

"Hopefully Congress takes note of the mass resignation of the Regional Commissioners and starts asking questions," the source concluded.

Rich Couture — a spokesman for AFGE SSA General Committee, a union representing roughly 42,000 Social Security workers — told NPR, "AFGE is adamantly opposed to any mass layoffs" of its workers, "whether frontline or support staff." Front-line workers directly support beneficiaries, the number of whom, he said, increases by 10,000 people daily.

"SSA is at its lowest staffing levels in 50 years while taking care of more Americans than ever," Couture said in a statement. "We need to retain our frontline workers who directly serve the public as well as those workers who provide critical support for the frontlines. Any cuts will ultimately hurt the public and undermine delivery of Social Security benefits."

Trump has said that Social Security "won't be touched" as he continues to make sweeping cuts to the federal government.

The agency's news release said the planned reorganization will "prioritize customer service." It added: "SSA is committed to ensure this plan has a positive effect on the delivery of Social Security services."

Friday's announcement from the SSA followed guidance on Wednesday from the Trump administration for federal agencies to develop plans for the large-scale elimination of positions, in line with Trump's Feb. 11 executive order.

New leadership raises new concerns at the SSA

Until now, the SSA has been largely spared from efforts, mainly overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, to slash the size of the federal government. That includes a federal hiring freeze and more recent dismissals of large numbers of mostly newer workers.

New leadership at the agency has carried out more targeted changes, like closing its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity.

Any change to Social Security that could affect benefits is typically considered a political liability. Social Security remains one of the most popular government programs, and it is how most Americans prepare for retirement.

To that end, Trump and Republican congressional leaders have vowed to protect Social Security from their planned cuts to government spending.