I think a huge portion of the balance between "hire / grow head count" and "layoff / shrink head count" is linked to the Federal Funds Rate and whether corporations are ready to get rid of X (where X is the number of people they need to adjust head count wise to account for the Federal Funds Rate going from 0.25% -> 5.25% in 12 months)

Maybe they don't believe the Fed and are hopeful for a pivot?