Also called: Claims Representative, Benefits Specialist
Helps people apply for retirement, disability, and survivor benefits from Social Security.
Claims specialists interview people at field offices or by phone, gather documents like birth certificates and work records, and decide whether they qualify. They help widows, retirees, and disabled workers through a complicated system.
Federal General Schedule (GS) pay scale, with locality pay.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Public Administration, Social Work, Business.
Growing slowly. Approximate.
High risk for 10 years. AI and online applications handle much of the intake and rules work; complex cases and in-person help remain.
Classes: Government, Psychology, Keyboarding.
Official data: O*NET occupation 13-1031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.