IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oec/elsaab/332-en.html

The regulation of non-compete clauses across OECD countries

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Andrews
  • Tito Boeri
  • Andrea Garnero
  • Sindri Engilbertsson
  • Sara Holttinen
  • Lorenzo G. Luisetto

Abstract

Non-compete clauses can protect firms’ legitimate interests such as trade secrets or training investments, but they can also hinder worker mobility, wage growth, and innovation. Therefore, the way these clauses are regulated is central to balancing business needs with labour market dynamism. This paper provides the first cross-country analysis of non-compete regulatory regimes in OECD countries. It documents the main legal dimensions that govern their enforceability, and it develops a new index that captures regulatory strictness and structure. This extends earlier work on the United States. By systematically mapping these frameworks, the paper helps to fill a significant knowledge gap and supports policymakers in evaluating the effectiveness of current regulations in balancing the protection of firms with the fostering of competitive and innovative labour markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Andrews & Tito Boeri & Andrea Garnero & Sindri Engilbertsson & Sara Holttinen & Lorenzo G. Luisetto, 2026. "The regulation of non-compete clauses across OECD countries," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 332, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:elsaab:332-en
    DOI: 10.1787/88e3eb6e-en
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1787/88e3eb6e-en
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1787/88e3eb6e-en?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oec:elsaab:332-en. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eloecfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.