I dont know the answer to your question, but similarly to your friends, a lot of my fellow engineers who were laid off last year are still unemployed.

Explain to me like I am 5. I am in my 30s and every one I know who is unemployed or is looking for a job is struggling. Yet I see all these tech companies with absolutely massive profits. And just today Morgan Stanley reported $2B in beg investment income.

Why do we have such big disconnect with the labor market?

It's also a weird feeling because We are the stock owners and we want the stock prices to go up. So we cheer when companies cut cost (such as layoffs), sometimes even at companies that we work for.