Authorities offered updates Monday on the shooting of a Virginia elementary school teacher by a 6-year-old . The town of Gilroy in Northern California wad partly underwater after the latest storm to hit the state.
Workers would be able to change jobs more freely than they can now if the Federal Trade Commission succeeds in Banning noncompete clauses. But opponents warn that freedom won’t be free.
Noncompete agreements, which the FTC says are signed by one-fifth of Americans as a condition of employment, block employees from working for a competing employer, or starting a competing business, typically within a certain geographic area and period of time after a worker’s employment ends. The FTC argues that these agreements suppress wages and block innovation and entrepreneurship.
The FTC estimates its proposal to ban “noncompetes” could increase wages by nearly $300 billion a year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans, but opponents are skeptical of these estimates. Most noncompetes aren’t even enforced now, they argue, and if they are, it’s primarily with highly paid workers who have access to secret information or client lists, not the average worker.
A ban “could really put a leash on the ease of sharing information from the corporate perspective,” said Maurice Cayer, distinguished lecturer, and coordinator of M.S. for Human Resources at the University of New Haven. “What that would do from an employee perspective is prevent them from having the information they need to be more innovative.
Who has noncompete agreements?
Noncompetes are most likely to be found in high-skill, high-paying jobs like in technology, pharmaceutical or manufacturing where breakthrough developments are important. They’re also prevalent in companies that fear poaching by clients, like financial firms, that may rely heavily on sales. In some of those industries, almost one-third of workers have noncompetes, according to a Minneapolis Federal Reserve report last year.
Among low- and moderate-income workers, more than one in ten reported having a noncompete contract, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve said.