
The US Justice Department’s acting head of its Antitrust Division said on Friday, October 1, that labor markets were a top priority for enforcement efforts, indicating a shift toward issues set by the White House’s executive order on competition.
While antitrust enforcers have brought labor antitrust cases in the past, and the Trump Administration’s Justice Department brought one against a no-poach agreement between rail equipment suppliers in 2018, they are rare.
“The division has become increasingly alert to and concerned by business conduct and transactions that harm competition for working people,” said Richard Powers, acting head of the division, in a conference in New York.
Powers added that the coronavirus pandemic made the focus on labor even more critical. “If it was important for enforcers to protect competition in labor markets decades ago, and I believe that it was, it is essential now,” he said.
He called any violation of antitrust law to hold down wages “just as irredeemable as agreements to fix product prices and allocate markets, conduct that the division has prosecuted for over 100 years.” Powers added that the division was investing “substantial time and resources” in labor markets.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
EU Civil Society Groups and Labor Unions Raise Alarm Over Proposed Changes to GDPR
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
EU Antitrust Regulators Push Back Deadline on UniCredit’s Takeover Bid for Banco BPM
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Intel Challenges €376 Million EU Fine in Ongoing Antitrust Dispute
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Red Bull Challenges EU Commission Over Lengthy Antitrust Inspection
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Live Nation Under Criminal Antitrust Investigation Over Pandemic-Era Refund Policies
May 19, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Healthcare Antitrust
May 14, 2025 by
CPI
Healthcare & Antitrust: What to Expect in the New Trump Administration
May 14, 2025 by
Nana Wilberforce, John W O'Toole & Sarah Pugh
Patent Gaming and Disparagement: Commission Fines Teva For Improperly Protecting Its Blockbuster Medicine
May 14, 2025 by
Blaž Višnar, Boris Andrejaš, Apostolos Baltzopoulos, Rieke Kaup, Laura Nistor & Gianluca Vassallo
Strategic Alliances in the Pharma Sector: An EU Competition Law Perspective
May 14, 2025 by
Christian Ritz & Benedikt Weiss
Monopsony Power in the Hospital Labor Market
May 14, 2025 by
Kevin E. Pflum & Christian Salas