Even if states are able to gradually reopen in the coming months while avoiding fresh virus outbreaks — a difficult task, as many are already finding — a wide range of companies will face new costs while trying to operate safely. That alone may make them less likely to quickly rehire the 30 million or so workers laid off or furloughed since the crisis forced nationwide shutdowns in March.

Companies may also decide that the remote working experience taught them they don’t need as many employees as they thought, putting further pressure on a jobless rate that is expected to hit close to 20 percent on Friday with the April jobs report. That risk, along with unprecedented uncertainty over their sales, suggests the job market won’t take off like a rocket.

“You are going to see a lot businesses, large and small, rethink what the size of their workforce really needs to be after this,” one Wall Street CEO told POLITICO on condition that he not be named in order to speak freely about multiple recent calls with clients worried about how to reopen and how many workers to bring back.