More than 7,100 jobs at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have been eliminated. This marks the largest workforce reduction in the agency’s history. The measure comes as millions depend on Social Security disability benefits, SSI payments, and SSDI benefits to survive day to day.
With key performance data removed from the web and regional offices closed, concerns are growing. Uncertainty is increasing over access to benefits, request processing times, and the future of disability benefits for vulnerable Americans in 2026. For the 16 million people who depend on Social Security disability benefits, the consequences are becoming painfully real.
The Social Security Administration is undergoing its most disruptive restructuring in decades. More than 7,100 workers—more than 13% of the entire workforce—have been laid off, marking the largest personnel cut in the agency’s history. Six of its ten regional offices have been closed.
What Changes Has the SSA Implemented?
Services have been moved online and AI-powered systems now handle more of the public phone lines that millions of Americans with disabilities depend on. Policy changes alone have created significant confusion. In March 2025, the agency announced that telephone benefit applications would be eliminated, only to reverse that decision a month later.
This kind of back-and-forth is not just an administrative inconvenience. For people with severe physical or cognitive disabilities, navigating constantly changing rules can mean the difference between receiving support or falling through the cracks. Researchers from California State University, Sacramento, Binghamton University, and University of Wisconsin-Madison—all social work professors studying these programs—say the process was already extraordinarily difficult before 2025.
Their new findings confirm that it has worsened significantly. In June 2025, the agency quietly removed key performance metrics from its public website. These included phone wait times and disability benefit application processing times. That data had long served as a basic accountability tool. With it gone, the public lost one of its clearest windows into how well—or poorly—the agency served people.
How Many People Depend on Disability Benefits?
Social Security administers two disability programs that together support 16 million Americans. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) serves low-income elderly adults and people with disabilities under 65, providing a maximum of $994 per month in 2026.
