(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Rising workloads, staffing losses and limited resources - now coupled with recent benefits policy changes for Employees, are hindering the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ability to deliver to the public, a Federal Union warns.

During an on-line press briefing, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) made an urgent pitch to support what it says is a workforce that has long been under-resourced and understaffed.

Union Officials also heightened calls on Congress to pass additional funding for SSA, $3 billion above its currently enacted spending levels.

AFGE’s spending proposal would put resources toward hiring an additional 20,000 SSA Employees “to begin to dig us out of the backlogs and service delays that have worsened since 2011,” AFGE Council 220 President Jessica LaPointe said.

Council 220 represents thousands of SSA Workers in Field Offices and Teleservice Centers.

“We are simply bleeding Staff and have problems with recruitment and retention as a result,” LaPointe told reporters.

During 2025, the SSA lost more than 7,000 Employees, as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to shrink the Federal Workforce.

With further Employee separations in 2026, coupled with some limited hiring, the SSA has seen a net loss of nearly 8,000 Employees since President Donald Trump took office, Office of Personnel Management data shows.

Following the workforce reductions, the SSA has reassigned more than 2,000 Agency Employees to staff its national 800 number, pulling them away from processing claims and providing in-person help at field offices.

“That was not efficiency. That was waste,” said Rich Couture, a spokesperson for AFGE’s General Committee for SSA. “This further shows that SSA needs more Staff, not less.”

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