Increasing competition for Monster.com

In BusinessWeek Online, Olga Kharif writes about increasing competition in the job board space; where Monster.com  has been a leader for quite some time (I was reminded recently of the "old days" when people used OCC...remember that?). She references eBay's newly purchased interest in Craigslist as well as the emergence of some "up and comers" with big wallets that could give Monster.com a run for it's money.

Could it be that companies are putting their money into job boards because they see the economy turning around? Or is something else going on here?