On Mergers and Workers: Labor Market Aspects of the Proposed U.S. Merger Guidelines

September 13, 2023 Proposed revisions to the U.S. merger guidelines, which the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission issued for public comment in the summer of 2023, include new provisions that would address anticompetitive effects of mergers on labor markets. The agencies propose assessing when a merger between employers may significantly reduce wages or benefits, slow wage growth, or diminish working conditions or workplace quality. The Penn Program on Regulation organized a panel of economic and legal experts for a webinar examining the implications of these new labor-focused provisions of the draft merger guidelines. Panelists include: • Gus Hurwitz: Senior Fellow and Academic Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, Penn Carey Law • Ioana Marinescu: Principal Economist, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division; Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice • Aviv Nevo: Director, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics; George A. Weiss and Lydia Bravo Weiss University Professor, University of Pennsylvania • Sanjukta Paul: Professor of Law, University of Michigan Herbert Hovenkamp, James G. Dinan University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, moderated the discussion. This event was co-sponsored by the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition.