Updated Numbers On Numbers Of Social Security Employees

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at Social Security. I would caution that these numbers are a bit misleading. Social Security has long relied heavily upon employee overtime to get much of its workload done. Reductions in overtime are not reflected in the OPM numbers. Overtime declined at Social Security during the 2012 fiscal year and has almost completely disappeared since the beginning of the 2013 fiscal year on October 1, 2012. I cannot see the big picture but all of the parts of Social Security that I deal with, apart from the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), where the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) work, seem to me to be falling apart, with the most dramatic changes happening at the payment centers, which put claimants on benefits after they approved, and the N.C. Disability Determination Service (DDS) which makes initial and reconsideration determinations on disability claims, being the most dramatically affected. Service at the field offices I am dealing with is also noticeably deteriorating. I could say that the current situation is one that cannot continue for the long term but that would understate the problem The current situation that I see is one that cannot survive for even a few more months without dramatic consequences which would be obvious to the public. I cannot even imagine the consequences if sequestration comes to pass for even a week or two.

• September 2012 65,113
• June 2012 65,282
• March 2012 65,257
• December 2011 65,911
• September 2011 67,136
• June 2011 67,773
• March 2011 68,700
• December 2010 70,270
• June 2010 69,600
• March 2010 66,863
• December 2009 67,486
• September 2009 67,632
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990
• September 2007 62,407
• September 2006 63,647
• September 2005 66,147
• September 2004 65,258
• September 2003 64,903
• September 2002 64,648
• September 2001 65,377
• September 2000 64,521