“In the aggregate there’s good reason to think that non-poaching agreements and noncompetes are suppressing wages,” says Eric Posner, a professor of law at the University of Chicago. He says the agreements, especially among low-wage workers, tilt the scales towards employers when it comes to wages.  The University of Maryland’s Evan Starr says there's some evidence for this: In 2015, Hawaii banned noncompete agreements for tech workers. After that, “The wages of new hires rose 4 percent and mobility of workers increased in tech relative to other industries,” Starr said.

The boundaries of non-poaching agreements are being tested in several court cases, and limits on noncompete agreements are being considered in the U.S. Senate and Massachusetts. Illinois already bans them for low-wage workers.

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