3, 5 and 17

Today the company I work for laid-off 3 people in the department I work in, 5 people total on our floor and from what I heard 17 total within the company.
This has been the 2nd set of layoffs within the month.
They claim this will be the last of the layoffs, but you know how companies say things just to calm the storm.
Their excuse for the layoffs is because of our current economies state. Could be but why doesn't middle or upper management ever get laid off along with the non management employees?
Just wondering....