They are laid off (with severance) not permanently disabled. They most likely will find other jobs (linkedin is already full of recruiting messages). I don't intend to make light of it - getting fired sucks, a lot. It's a terrible experience. But it should be also kept in perspective - software engineers, especially in the US, are very well paid, even in comparison with most other US employees. Compared to, say, Belgium, probably 2x and more. You can say living in a welfare state makes up to it, that's a matter of opinion and preference, but if you look just at the numbers, even with layoffs taken into account, I think US software engineers are quite well paid.
As an extreme example, if Elon got fired from Tesla, I am sure he would be ok. He manages his money well and I am sure he does not think his job at Tesla is some king of God-given lifetime human right. If you are making $250k, a company is not expecting to be your baby sitter. You are a grown man or woman.
An employee needs to manage their economic life without depending on some company to make financial decisions for them. Getting laid off is simply part of life.
If you don’t want to be laid off, you can always start your own company and hire all these people, with your own money of course.
Are you aware for well over a decade US software engineers have been compensated many multiples compared to their counterparties outside of the US? 7% is around 280 employees.
Just because companies are holding layoffs does not mean software engineers are not still making bank.