Andrea Hsu
Andrea Hsu is NPR's labor and workplace correspondent.
Hsu first joined NPR in 2002 and spent nearly two decades as a producer for All Things Considered. Through interviews and in-depth series, she's covered topics ranging from America's opioid epidemic to emerging research at the intersection of music and the brain. She led the award-winning NPR team that happened to be in Sichuan Province, China, when a massive earthquake struck in 2008. In the coronavirus pandemic, she reported a series of stories on the pandemic's uneven toll on women, capturing the angst that women and especially mothers were experiencing across the country, alone. Hsu came to NPR via National Geographic, the BBC, and the long-shuttered Jumping Cow Coffee House.
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In industries ranging from health care to manufacturing to entertainment, workers across the country are willing to strike for better wages and working conditions.
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Workplaces with vaccine mandates are seeing vaccination rates of 90% or higher. A complex mix of factors, including job security, is driving most workers to get the shots. -
OSHA, the small, chronically understaffed federal agency in charge of workplace safety, now faces a big challenge: enforcing a federal vaccine rule covering 80 million workers.
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With vaccine mandates in place all over the country, workers opposed to the shots are requesting religious exemptions, but federal law puts employers in a strong position when weighing the requests.
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President Biden has ordered more than 17 million health care workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Some health care employers fear losing large numbers of workers who don't want the shots.
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Many Afghans who have come to the U.S. through the Special Immigrant Visa program are educated and skilled, yet they end up in low wage jobs — a missed opportunity for both workers and employers.
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The pandemic forced many people to work from home. Now, a lot of workers want to keep that setup, at least some of the time.
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Private businesses and unions react to President Biden's new plan to require vaccinations and testing for millions of American workers.
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President Biden announced a reset of his plan to tackle the pandemic, with tougher new vaccine rules for federal workers and contractors and more testing.
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Millions more people than expected joined the ranks of the retired in the pandemic. While some did so joyfully, others were reluctant or had no choice.
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With the delta variant spreading, more companies are mandating that employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but some are still hoping bonuses will do the trick.
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In the pandemic, child care has gotten the attention of policymakers like never before, and billions of dollars in emergency funds have stabilized the industry. Biden wants more.
