It seems every day there's a new headline about mass layoffs, and yet the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics published a mere 1% layoff rate for the month of August. This month, Netflix was the latest in a series of companies announcing layoffs. Business Insider has reported Meta, Amazon, Walmart and Visa have all announced layoffs this year. Illinois State University economics professor George Waters said it's unusual for layoff rates and hiring rates to both be low at the same time.