5 June 2019  Paris  

A recent fall in the labour share of income has helped fuel rising inequality and populist demand for dramatic reform of competition law. While these pushes cannot find an immediate response in competition law enforcement, they have stirred a debate within the competition community on monopsony and labour market power retained by employers, and on when exercise of employer monopsony power infringes competition law.

In June 2019, the OECD will hold a hearing aimed at discussing the anticompetitive concerns in labour markets. The session will focus on the factors contributing to the creation of monopsony power and its effects on workers and consumers. It will explore why cases involving monopsony power have been relatively rare, and what use competition authorities could make of their enforcement powers to prevent the creation of monopsony power, for example through mergers or no-poaching agreements, and the abuse of that power. Other ways to increase the countervailing market power of workers and to address downward pressure on wages and job losses will also be considered.

» VIDEO: Professor Hebert Hovenkamp talks about labour market concentration and what competition law and do about it

» Read the OECD Background Note

» Competition Policy for Labour Markets by Herbert Hovenkamp

» Monopsony and the Business Model of Gig Economy Platforms by Marshall Steinbaum 

» View the full list of OECD best practice roundtables on competition policy

KEY PAPERS

Market Concentration, 2018

Does competition kill or create jobs? 2015

CONTRIBUTIONS

INVITED SPEAKERS

Herbert HOVENKAMP  Bio
Professor, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Marshall STEINBAUM Bio
University of Utah, USA

» Best Practice Competition Roundtables 

» OECD Competition

RELATED BEST PRACTICE ROUNDTABLES

Market studies methodologies for competition authorities, 2017

The role of market studies as a tool to promote competition, 2016 

Public interest considerations in merger control, 2016

Market Studies, 2008

Monopsony and Buyer Power, 2008

Competition and Regulation in Agriculture: Monopsony Buying and Joint Selling, 2004

Buying Power of Multiproduct Retailers, 1998