It would also be nice to compare these numbers with historical data: are they higher, lower or the same as layoff numbers in previous years (across the economy and by business sector)?<p>Companies lay off people all the time, and some companies can be having financial difficulties even when the economy is doing well. Layoffs at Yahoo probably occurred for completely different reasons (e.g., not being able to compete against Google and Facebook for ad dollars) than the ones at Chevron (probably due to the declining price of oil). The fact that some number of companies laid off some number of people this year doesn&#x27;t imply anything interesting unless it&#x27;s placed in context.