[slindsey]

Twice in the comments you said you wanted to discuss "neopotism" (I'm assuming you mean nepotism). Yet you didn't say that in the main question for some reason. Nepotism wouldn't be a cause of layoffs but a situation where someone was kept on despite poor performance, due to their connections (family).

Over 30 years, I've certainly seen this happen. Usually more about friendships and professional connections than family. But how a person interacts with their co-workers in and out of office hours certainly impacts their standing and their likelihood of staying at a company during a period of layoffs. Those factors are usually far more important than actual performance.

Any supervisor can manipulate the facts of a person's overall performance to seem more or less favorable in order to drive that person out or keep them. Most jobs are not strictly 100% measurable performance numbers to act on (of course there are some).

I'd say that nepotism is almost not worth considering with respect to layoffs. Do your best work. Interact as best you can with your co-workers. Control the things you can control. If nepotism is an issue, that's something specific to the circumstances or company and not likely something you can influence, so if it is a bother, move on.