People who need to make a call to the Social Security Administration’s 800 number system (there are several 800 numbers offered to members of the public for SSA services) might have noticed that its been easier to get through to a live person.
The average busy signal rate has fallen from 8.1 percent of calls in fiscal 2009 to 2.6 percent of calls in 2011, according to data recently posted to Data.gov by the agency. In all three years the time of the year when you are most likely to get a busy signal includes the months of December and January.
The average time it took to answer a phone call has also fallen. In fiscal 2009 it took the agency an average of 245 seconds to answer a phone call while in fiscal 2011 it was down to 180 seconds.
According to SSA new technology has helped the agency meet its goals to reduce busy signals and wait times but warns that they might not be able to keep up their progress.
“We will continue to strive to improve service. However, in the future, declining staff due to agency budget resource limitations may impact our performance,” the agency said in a post on its website.
