In a letter addressed to the Federal Trade Commission, Edward Lenz, ASA Senior Vice-President for Public Affairs and General Counsel, claims that the merger "would seriously weaken competition for (Internet job board) services and lead to monopoly prices that could significantly threaten the economic viability of many staffing firms."

With 1,350 members, the American Staffing Association is the largest voice representing the staffing business, an industry that employed an estimated 12.5 million people last year.

The letter says that staffing firms rely on the use of Internet job boards such as Monster because of the cost-effectiveness and geographical reach that they offer. Competition between these boards keeps costs reasonable, and ASA is worried that the elimination of that competition will take away valuable negotiating leverage from staffing firms who deal with Monster.

Jim Tholen, Chief Strategy Officer for CareerBuilder, says the concern is legitimate.
"If I was in the staffing industry, you bet I'd be concerned about Monster," says Tholen. "Regardless of this deal."

Tholen raised another issue as well, citing that Monster's parent company, TMP Worldwide, has used profits to compete with the staffing firms who use their services. "Monster plays the market in very heavy-handed way," Tholen says, "and they're using their profits to buy staffing companies and compete directly with (other staffing firms) and that's got to be unsettling."

CareerBuilder is the number three ranked job board, falling behind Monster and Hotjobs. The FTC announced this week its approval of CareerBuilder's acquisition of fifth-ranked Headhunter.net, which came just weeks after the Hotjobs acquisition. Recruiter.com reported yesterday that CareerBuilder plans to consolidate the two sites in an effort to further compete with Monster.

According to ASA's letter, the merger would allow Monster "to so dominate this critical recruiting resource that it could effectively charge monopoly rents for its services."

"Accordingly," the letter concludes, "the American Staffing Association is opposed to the merger."

A TMP Worldwide spokesperson had no comment. Monster CEO Jeff Taylor and Hotjobs CEO Dimitri Boylan were unavailable for comment.