The Conference Board said last month it expects the number of online job ads to decline in the coming months because of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. 

Separately, the New York Post reported that some staffing firms are having an easier time contacting executives during the outbreak but are seeing delays in hiring.

Turning to The Conference Board-Burning Glass Help Wanted OnLine Index, it was still at high levels in February despite being on a downward trend over the past year. Its level of 101.4 in February was down 1.0% compared to January and down 4.9% from a year ago.

Gad Levanon, head of The Conference Board Labor Markets Institute, outlined two possible scenarios for the coronavirus situation in an article for CNN Business. If the virus fades away relatively soon, the labor market would likely not see major layoffs outside of the most affected industries. Under the second scenario, the coronavirus persists, which could cause a recession.