The problems roiling the Social Security system stem from two of the Trump administration’s central obsessions: slashing federal payrolls as quickly as possible and rooting out fraud in the federal government.
About 2,800 Social Security employees have taken buyouts or early retirements promoted by Mr. Musk’s group, according to agency data.
All told, more than three dozen offices are losing at least a quarter of their employees, with many located in rural areas that supported Mr. Trump, according to the agency.
Staffing levels at the Social Security Administration were already at 50-year lows, and the departure of so many workers who answered phones and worked at field-office counters has led to longer lines and phone waits, according to interviews with more than a dozen internal field office and high-level employees.
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