# Non-Compete Agreement A **non-compete agreement** is a contract clause barring a worker from joining or starting a competing firm for a set period after leaving an employer. Originally justified for executives with trade secrets, non-competes spread far down the wage ladder — covering an estimated one in five US workers, including fast-food staff and warehouse labor. By legally removing a worker's outside options, they are a direct source of employer wage-setting power (see [[Monopsony]]) and a contributor to the [[Wage Growth vs Productivity]] gap. Non-competes became a flashpoint in the early-2020s [[Antitrust]] revival: in April 2024 the [[FTC]], under [[Lina Khan]], issued a rule banning most non-competes nationwide. The rule was challenged in court and stayed before taking effect, and the post-2025 FTC leadership shifted away from it — making non-compete policy a clean illustration of how labor-market regulation tracks which party controls the agency. *Stub — expand with the FTC rule's litigation history, state-level variation (California's longstanding ban), and the empirical wage-effect research.* ## See Also - [[Monopsony]] — The market power non-competes help create - [[Wage Growth vs Productivity]] — The macro gap they widen - [[Antitrust]] — The enforcement frame that targeted them - [[Lina Khan]] — FTC chair behind the 2024 non-compete ban