The percentages of slipping right into a recession are more and more doubtless as the worldwide coronavirus outbreak places acute stress on the U.S. financial system. That may very well be dangerous information for American employees, who could lose jobs by the thousands and thousands in a downturn.

For these employees who do not obtain severance pay, the monetary affect may very well be particularly devastating.

"It is actually arduous to foretell how it will play out," mentioned Wayne Outten, founder and chair of Outten & Golden, an employment regulation agency in New York, of the coronavirus fallout. "The ripple impact might be dramatic in so many various industries."

The coronavirus, which causes a illness formally often called COVID-19, has unfold quickly across the globe because it originated in China late final 12 months. Greater than 169,000 individuals have been contaminated worldwide, and greater than 6,500 have died.

Monetary markets have cratered. American life has come to a screeching halt, as faculties and cultural establishments have closed, sports activities...