Relevant Labour Market: Missing in the New Market Definition Notice

The European Commission has been signalling an ambition to start more vigorously enforcing European Union competition law against business actions concerning labour. Such enforcement may be necessary because empirical research shows that competition among European employers is often limited. However, the Commission’s new Market Definition Notice entirely ignores the markets for labour, where such competition takes place, even though their definition may be necessary for enforcement. Against this backdrop, the present article examines how to define the relevant labour market. It discusses the occupation and geographic dimensions of the market, the role of the hypothetical monopsonist framework, and the relationship of the market to downstream product markets, and it considers which evidence can be used to define the market. The discussion reveals that the relevant labour market consists of jobs for which the respective workers qualify and are also willing to consider. This so-called matching nature of labour markets is a major reason why they tend to be quite narrow. The article calls on the Commission to provide authoritative guidance to market actors and enforcers on how to define relevant labour markets.