Corporate profits are soaring even as layoffs mount. Economists call it a "jobless boom."

As U.S. corporate profits rise and the stock market hits new highs, investors are reaping the rewards. Yet beneath the surge, companies have cut nearly 1 million jobs this year — the most since 2020, when the pandemic slammed the economy.

The disconnect between soaring company earnings and mounting layoffs amounts to what Chen Zhao, chief global strategist at investment research firm Alpine Macro, calls a "jobless boom." Typically, layoffs accelerate when companies are struggling with declining profitability and need to pare costs.

"We've never seen anything like that"

"This is something that is completely different from a historical playbook," Zhao told CBS News. "It's kind of odd to see Amazon laying off 30,000 people even though the profit is doing really, really well."

At the h