FTC Launches Labor Markets Task Force: The More Things Change, The More Antitrust Enforcement Stays The Same

On February 26, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a new Labor Markets Task Force (Task Force) to combat deceptive, unfair, and anticompetitive labor market practices. Declaring that the Republican party is "the working person's party," FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson directed the FTC's three Bureaus — the Bureau of Competition, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Bureau of Economics — to work together to prioritize "rooting out and prosecuting unfair labor practices that harm American workers" (Directive).

The Directive underscores the FTC's dual mandate of consumer protection and competition enforcement, asserting that the FTC is "uniquely well-suited" to address conduct harming workers. The Task Force launch comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division's (DOJ) and the FTC's joint Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers (Guidelines), which were announced in the final days of the Biden