The global Coronavirus pandemic is shutting down international markets and economies and flummoxing governments and - and healthcare companies are already staffing up to manage patients and the rebound from the outbreak. 

At a time when market prognosticators are seeing short-term unemployment numbers to the US as high as 30%, there remain quite a few industries looking to staff up when so few are even able to forecast viability. This includes industries like e-commerce and traditional brick-and-mortar retail, social media, payment and telehealth apps and the makers of medical devices or pharmaceuticals being used to treat COVID-19. 

One of the US health insurance industry's leaders, Cigna ($CI) began ramping up with more hires in the beginning of 2020, which hasn't subsided. Job postings are up 48% from recent 2019 lows. 

Unfortunately, that comes at a time when shares are down about 36% to start the year. However, it's especially notable that Cigna's job postings are at levels not ordinarily reached on a multi-year timeframe (not shown). 

Humana ($HUM) shares have been hammered for about 40% losses so far in 2020. 

But, that's not slowing down its staffing plan. Others (like Centene - not shown) in the space have displayed a cyclical hiring trend, so at the end of 2019, job postings were near annual lows. But already, Centene has started staffing up in 2020 and Humana is another example of a healthcare company growing in spite of market losses. Humana job postings are up 28% so far this year. 

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

Further Reading: 

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