No, but the point is that those people have valuable experience. But they're probably laid off purely from a numbers standpoint, they likely have a higher salar

No, but the point is that those people have valuable experience. But they're probably laid off purely from a numbers standpoint, they likely have a higher salary than the junior people. The decision likely isn't based on the merit of the candidates when a company is in trouble; however, that seems like OP's point... that maybe it should be.