Layoffs always happen, but I imagine it is like a wave. Sometimes you have very few, other times you have a lot.
"nowhere else to go" isn't really a thing right now - but "the mood is right" is probably more of what is happening. Employees are at least a little on edge (which significantly impacts performance, for what it is worth) right now.
Most companies that are laying off people do not need to lay them off. Their survival is not at stake.
Doordash, for example, is making something like 4billion $ of gross profit a year.
That's enough to pay all of these 1200 employees $3m a year, with some left over.