Most of the recently laid off engineers that want jobs are finding them, just not necessarily at software companies, and not necessarily at the same ridiculously inflated salaries.

The engineers that I know that were recently laid off and are unemployed have huge savings cushions and are being tremendously picky.

It might not be sexy to take a job building software for an insurance company, and it might be quite painful to take a 30% pay cut, but jobs are there for those that want them. In an actual nation-wide recession, they are not.