Antitrust analysis of vertical restraints in labour markets

Abstract Vertical restraints in labour markets are a neglected topic but have taken on importance as the harms caused by labour market restraints have gained greater recognition. These restraints are typically a form of input foreclosure, which refers to action of a downstream buyer of inputs to hinder its competitors from accessing those inputs. But while labour markets are important input markets, there has been little discussion of how input foreclosure can be used to evaluate anticompetitive labour market transactions. This article fills that gap by providing a framework derived from US federal antitrust law for analysing input foreclosure in labour markets.