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

Social Security has temporarily removed this data to reconcile it against our source files.

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 semi-annual 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 usually 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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Notes

  • A Federal Fiscal Year (FY) is the 12-month period that starts the Saturday after the last Friday of September and ends the last Friday of September. Most years our fiscal year workload reports contain 52 weeks since we include only full weeks, rather than cut off in the middle of a week. Every few years the reporting period is 53 weeks when we apply the end of week cutoff.
  • Single asterisk (*): no survery was done for the second half of 2015, thus the data for July 2015 matches the data for January 2015.
  • Double asterisk (**): survey was done one time during these years.

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Data Dictionary

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

Fiscal Year (FY): The 12-month period that starts the Saturday after the last Friday of September and ends the last Friday of September.

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