[skeptic2718]

I didn't know that was common sense but it's something I have personally experienced.

I joined the IT team at a major food industry, and I would look at the office floor and people would point me to those who also had just joined.

Things started to go sour an year later (cash related), and people slowly started to leave. On my last day, I looked at the office space again and something seemed interesting: everybody working had been at that company for 3+ years. All the newcomers had left. I mentioned this to a couple of people and asked them "do you see anyone here that has joined in the last 2-3 years?" and the answer was "Crap, no".

So it's not only management letting go of the last hires, but these hires also leaving (more of that, I suppose).

[mprovost]

This sounds like a variation of the Dead Sea Effect - when things get bad, the staff with the best job prospects are the first to leave (http://brucefwebster.com/2008/04/11/the-wetware-crisis-the-d...).