Plans to eliminate 7,000 Social Security Administration workers: “There is no safe office in this country”

A major union is warning that the Social Security Administration (SSA) faces the prospect of “wholesale collapse” as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) enacts major cuts at the agency.

DOGE cuts thousands of Social Security jobs

Appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the DOGE’s efforts to slash federal spending in the U.S., Musk has targeted the SSA, whose Social Security benefits schemes aid more than 70 million people across America.

In addition to claiming that Social Security is subject to widespread fraud - an assertion not backed up by official statistics - Musk has described entitlement programs as “most of the federal spending” and “the big one to eliminate”.

In February, it was announced that the SSA’s workforce is to be reduced from 57,000 to 50,000 - despite the agency’s former head, Martin O’Malley, complaining recently that it “has been operating at a 50-year low in staffing”.

“There won’t be enough people to do the jobs”

Speaking to The Guardian this week, Rich Couture, a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the DOGE’s actions are likely to have dire consequences for the SSA - and warned that Musk’s department may well seek to cut more than 7,000 Social Security staff.

“It has never been explained with any degree of clarity how they came up with that figure,” said Couture, whose union represents thousands of SSA workers. “What’s being served by that by a loss of 7,000 jobs?

“How does any of that supposedly make this operation more efficient? How does it improve service? How does it improve productivity?

“Our position is that losing 7,000 people doesn’t do any of those things.”

He added: “I don’t think they’re going to stop at 7,000 people lost. If they lose 10,000 or 12,000, they’re running up their high score. They’re able to brag about it.”

With dozens of Social Security field offices throughout the U.S. listed for closure by the DOGE, Couture added: “There is no safe office in this country.

“It’s a concerted attack on the legitimacy of Social Security itself. The promise that this country has made to the public with respect to income security is being broken."

He concluded: “You’re going to see a wholesale collapse in the agency’s service structure.

“Call wait times will skyrocket, wait times for appointments, processing times, all of it is going to skyrocket because there won’t be enough people to do the jobs”.

“An interruption in benefits”

Couture’s comments echo those of O’Malley, who told HuffPost in March: “I think for the first time in 90 years, we’re going to see an interruption of benefits. I hope that doesn’t happen, but I believe it will.”

Exactly how many people get Social Security benefits in the U.S.?

As of February 2025, just under 69 million people in the U.S. received retirement, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or survivor benefits from the SSA.

According to figures published by the SSA in March, retired workers get around $2,000 per month on average. Disabled workers are paid just under $1,600 a month on average.

Recipients of survivor benefits - which are issued to eligible surviving family members of Americans who worked and paid Social Security taxes before their death - are paid an average of around $1,500 per month.

Meanwhile, 7.4 million in the U.S. receive an average of $715 from the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI), a means-tested scheme aimed at people who have little to no income and are over 65 or disabled.

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