Gig Economy Merits More Antitrust Scrutiny, FTC Official Says

Antitrust enforcers including the Federal Trade Commission should leverage competition law to crack down on misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than employees, FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya urged in a speech on Friday.

Bedoya’s call for competition authorities to consider worker misclassification as a potential unfair method of competition comes amid heightened scrutiny of the issue among labor law enforcers. Government agencies, unions, and civil society groups are raising alarm about how classifying workers as independent contractors—a widespread practice among gig companies and beyond—can strip workers of adequate income and benefits.

Independent contractors don’t qualify for a range of ...