If I don't make skilled use of the latest tools and techniques, I can't compete successfully. Layoffs or cutbacks I have never been laid off or cut back, but non-tenured colleagues have. In astronomy, jobs are hard to get, so this is always a concern. Many astronomers' salaries are paid by research grants. If a grant proposal isn't successful, the astronomy doesn't get paid.
Astronomers write lots of proposals for research grants and for telescope time.
An economic recession reduces both government revenues and charitable donations, both of which reduce the amount of money available from grants. Since most astronomy research is funded by grants, this reduces the amount of research that is done, and some astronomers are unable to raise salary money from grants, as well. More women working The number of women entering astronomy graduate programs has more than tripled since I started graduate school in the early '70's. But the number of senior women professors has increased by a much smaller percentage. Still, the number of women at scientific conferences is much increased, as have the number of women in technical positions on observatory staffs.