The U.S. government agency that provides benefits to tens of millions of older Americans plans to cut 7,000 workers, it announced on Friday, as part of the Trump administration's plan to slash the size of the federal workforce.

The Social Security Administration is preparing to lay off at least 7,000 people from its workforce of 60,000 — and the final reduction in force number could be as high as 50%, according to sources.

The Social Security Administration has cut half of its outsourced information technology spending, slashing expenditures for private-sector contractors as part of an effort to keep full-time staff employed,