Social Security

Social Security Administration (SSA) Annual Data for
Asian and Pacific Islander Language Preferences
Bilingual Employees

Last updated on October 18, 2018

Background

It is essential that SSA employees have the tools to communicate effectively with the American public, regardless of an individual’s inability to communicate effectively in English. To achieve our commitment to provide fair and equitable service, we allow our employees who are bi- or multilingual to provide interpreter and translator services to Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. We maintain a Nationwide Translator Database, which our employees use to locate bi- or multilingual employees who self-identify as interpreters and/or translators. The National Translator Database is a nationwide consolidation of the Agency’s translation resources.

Dataset Index

Agency Program Description

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivor’s benefits. To qualify for these benefits, most American workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings; future benefits are based on the employees' contributions. Social Security taxes fund the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds that we use to pay Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance benefits. SSA also administers the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a federal needs-based program financed through general revenue funds. We have approximately 65,000 employees and deliver services through a nationwide network of about 1,500 offices. We also have a presence in several United Stated embassies around the globe.

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Dataset Description

This dataset displays our yearly national number of bi- or multilingual employees who volunteer their services as an interpreter and/or translator in their identified Asian and Pacific Islander (API) language. The report shows that we have over 1,500 self-identified employees who are bi- or multilingual in over 50 API languages and dialects.

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Data Collection Description

We canvas our offices twice a year (January and July) for bi- or multilingual employees who wish to volunteer their services as interpreters and/or translators. We have faith that our offices provide accurate data when submitting their bilingual employee numbers.

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Data Dictionary

This dataset displays our yearly national number of bi- or multilingual employees who volunteer their services as an interpreter and/or translator in their identified Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (API) language. The report shows that we have over 1,700 self-identified employees who are bi- or multilingual in over 50 AAPI languages and dialects.

API Language: The API languages our employees self-identify as speaking.

Year: The total number of employees who are bi- or multilingual for each API language.

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To learn more about our services, visit the SSA Multilanguage Gateway where you can read our Language Access Plan and obtain other publications.