I have been thinking about labor monopsony lately. Recent academic research suggests that thousands of labor markets are highly concentrated. Labor monopsonists are on notice that any actions to maintain or advance their monopsonies are illegal. Surely such actions are common. Consider, for example, the thousands of mergers among employers, resulting in workplace closures in shared labor markets. Or a monopsonist who uses noncompetes to maintain or advance its control over a labor market.

So where is the litigation? Aside from a handful of cases brought by the government and private parties involving only the most explicit restraints of trade under section 1 of the Sherman Act, almost nothing. Why is antitrust litigation so much more common for product markets than for labor markets? Section 2 seems all but a dead letter for labor markets. Can it be resurrected for a world of ubiquitous labor monopsony?

Searching for answers, I have coauthored an academic article arguing that mergers should be reviewed for their labor market effects. Here is some testimony, further developed as a blog post. Also: a policy paper, an op-ed, a longer op-ed, and a podcast on Akerman WorkedUp with Matt Steinberg in which we discuss noncompetes.

Email me your insights. More to come.