Last month,
U.S. employers cut 533K jobs, the most in 34 years. The last time this many people were laid off in a single month, it was the Ford administration I believe. The U.S. is also in the
worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
Given those facts, I think too many people are naively assuming these layoffs are not the result of the general economy. You can make up excuses out of anger like "poorly run" and "greedy" and "didn't prepare" and "does this every year". But realistically, the U.S. is in a serious economic crises that was unexpected (it started on a specific date - when Lehman Brothers went under). Economic recessions have a direct, fast impact on hobby industries as people cut back on their purchases (and people have cut way back on their purchases in general, and
that is provable).
The primary cause of these layoffs, or at least the extent of these layoffs, is probably due to circumstances entirely beyond the control of WOTC, and that is the sudden financial crises and recession. And when that happens, companies have to lay people off or else fall into the red. Which is exactly what thousands of companies did last month, to an extent unseen in 34 years. It's not a coincidence that all those companies did the same thing as WOTC. They are reacting to a real, tangible economic crises.