Enforcement of US antitrust law in labour markets

Abstract

In recent years, the US government has begun to focus antitrust enforcement efforts on labour markets. In 2022, for example, the Department of Justice (DOJ) blocked Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster based on the theory that the merger would reduce compensation for authors.1 In the same year, the DOJ settled a lawsuit with three poultry processing plants that allegedly exchanged information on compensation of plant workers for the purpose of collaborating on pay decisions.2 The DOJ has also brought several criminal complaints against firms and individuals for fixing wages and agreeing not to poach one another’s employees, and it has intervened in numerous private cases to express its views on the application of antitrust to labour markets.3 The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also gotten involved. In 2020, the FTC submitted a filing before a state commission criticizing a hospital merger that it predicted would lower the wages of nurses.4 In 2023, the agency forced several companies to drop covenants not to compete that it had imposed on their employees.5 And in the same year, the FTC proposed a rule banning covenants not to compete.6 The two agencies are also reportedly planning to include a section on labour markets in their updated merger guidelines.7 Private antitrust litigation against employers is also flourishing.