More than a dozen companies have conducted layoffs since the start of the year.

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) trimmed a small part of its staff on Monday, for instance. And on the same day, Amazon (AMZN) slashed workers from its Buy with Prime unit, marking the latest in a trend of cuts across major companies to start the new year.

But economists don't see these job cuts as a firm sign the labor market is headed for an outright downturn. So far, that is.

"What you see in the news in terms of companies announcing layoffs and what you see in the economic data are not necessarily the same thing," explained Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro.

In other words, the bark of headlines about layoffs may simply be harsher than the actual bite.

Case in point: The most recent reading of weekly unemployment claims showed the lowest number of filings since September 2022. The consistency of this weekly data has been crucial for economists searching for signs of cooling in the labor market.

Dutta noted that the layoffs right now aren't "particularly widespread" and the amount of workers cut appears to be smaller than the tech layoffs seen at the start of 2023.

Jefferies US economist Thomas Simons said companies announcing layoffs — and actually making the move — don't always happen at the same time. They can show up with a lag in the data, or not at all, depending on how significant the layoffs are.

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