I may be in a similar situation soon.  Millions will be.  All over the country.  Big companies know the economy is going to shrink and they will cut jobs to save their bottom-line.  

God has a plan.

Does this mean a recession is beginning?

I think we're past recession and probably ramping up into a full-blown depression.

OP here:  My position has been eliminated and I received my 60 day notice.  I will receive severance + bonus and job search assistance.  It's a group Zoom firing.  They said it's because they want to keep profits high.  I'm totally disgusted.

Usually in that 60-day "lame duck" period, they're not expecting a lot of productivity out of you and so you can probably show up late, leave early, work from home more, etc.

Are you seriously encouraging him to commit a sin of robbing his employer of the time/service he is being paid for???

Are you seriously encouraging him to commit a sin of robbing his employer of the time/service he is being paid for???

Give if a rest.  As I said, the employer is not expecting any productivity during those 60 days.  It's offered to appease the wrath of the laid-off workforce and for PR reasons, and most employees are salaried (aka "exempt") so there's no expectation of putting in 40 hours.  They often require you to work more than 40 under the terms of exempt employment, but the downside for them is that they also can't require employees to work 40 to get their full pay.  You evidently have no understanding of corporate employment.  They'll expect you to work 50-60 hours per week without paying OT under that kind of employment, but then can't force you to work 40 when things are slow.  It's not hourly employment.  And, even if it were for OP, there's no expectation whatsoever for full productivity during the lame duck timeframe except possibly to do knowledge transfer of your job duties, if applicable.

OP, could you describe your job duties?

I'm just curious what jobs are not safe, what jobs don't offer enough benefit to a company, etc.
I have children who are approaching "working age" so this isn't just idle curiosity on my part.

Tech project mgmt. 25 yrs exp.

Managers are inherently middlemen -- they aren't doing any direct work which earns the company money. So there's always a danger.

The company I work for is in the telecom industry. In California no less. The company is doing great, making lots of money (upgrading/installing equipment at cell sites). They have a fleet of techs who do the actual work.

But they have several "project managers" whose main work is to give/receive e-mails and update a spreadsheet. They also have "schedulers" who schedule where the techs will work each day.

There is tons of inefficiency and lost money (stolen by employees, fines for keeping equipment too long, repeat trips to sites that didn't need to happen, etc.) so their answer? Software. That's where I come in.

Myself and a few others in a low-cost area of the country (Texas) are writing software that's going to streamline, automate, and allow the company to cut all kinds of management jobs (especially project managers, job schedulers, etc.) because those jobs will be completely redundant after our software is fully complete.

That's why I tell everyone who will listen: make sure you do real work, offer real value, in whatever career you choose. Sure, there are "cushy" jobs where you seem to do little or nothing. OR let's say you're not lazy -- but your job is mind-numbingly boring and seems like a computer could do it -- both quicker and better. Either way, make no mistake: you're on borrowed time. The time will come when they DISCOVER how little you do, and/or how easily you could be replaced by a robot or computer.

Then you're toast.

So young people: pick careers where you can't be replaced. Something where you do REAL WORK that benefits a company. Something in-person. Something that requires human/rational skill. And so forth.