The Struggle to Keep America’s Workers Safe

WSJ What’s News · Dec 21, 2025 · 27m

For over 100 years, keeping Americans safe on the job has challenged the country's free-market economy. Businesses often preferred to regulate their workplaces without government oversight. But that track record is mixed. And federal efforts at safeguarding job sites at times have fallen short. Host Katherine Sullivan explores how far we've come since Frances Perkins helped put employee safety in the spotlight and what American workers still face now when they go to work.

This episode is part of The Wall Street Journal’s USA250: The Story of the World’s Greatest Economy, a collection of…