Table 1. Selected business functions involved in nonseasonal extended mass layoff events, selected quarters, 2008 and 2009

(Number of reports)

Selected business functions by business process (1) Total Main Secondary

II
2008
I
2009(r)
II
2009(p)
II
2008
I
2009(r)
II
2009(p)
II
2008
I
2009(r)
II
2009(p)

Total(2)
1,979 7,705 4,680 768 2,576 1,643 1,211 5,129 3,037

Producing goods/providing services

Construction activities

233 443 344 216 413 317 17 30 27

Producing goods

195 1,021 579 172 942 535 23 79 44

Providing services

 27 130 75 8 75 42 19 55 33

Accounting services

35 171 107 4 10 10 31 161 97

Contracted services

35 131 103 23 106 79 12 25 24

Engineering services

28 162 102 4 41 17 24 121 85

Entertainment services

7 38 20 5 27 17 2 11 3

Facility maintenance services

58 219 168 4 8 11 54 211 157

Financial management

12 57 33 - 4 2 12 53 31

Financial services

31 75 47 26 48 29 5 27 18

Food and cafeteria services

28 67 27 19 20 14 9 47 13

Health care services

18 24 26 18 20 19 - 4 7

Housekeeping services

7 47 36 1 9 4 6 38 32

Lodging services

9 41 18 4 24 11 5 17 7

Maintaining and repairing products

29 49 37 9 14 7 20 35 30

Security services

8 10 8 2 1 3 6 9 5

Assembling products

80 246 161 48 98 87 32 148 74

Fabricating

49 246 164 24 187 128 25 59 36

Quality assurance/quality control

38 193 133 - 2 - 38 191 133

Supervision--first line or direct

79 328 219 - 1 2 79 327 217

Procurement, logistics, distribution

Buying

13 90 32 - 1 - 13 89 32

Distribution

48 134 68 18 25 13 30 109 55

Packing

24 100 59 - 6 5 24 94 54

Receiving

19 170 80 - - - 19 170 80

Shipping

56 248 155 4 20 14 52 228 141

Transporting

59 162 92 27 41 37 32 121 55

Warehousing

54 206 110 21 27 17 33 179 93

General management and firm infrastructure

Administrative support

95 505 298 12 29 20 83 476 278

Clerical support

114 381 251 5 12 10 109 369 241

General management

89 424 272 4 25 15 85 399 257

Human resource management

Human resources, including recruiting

60 248 159 - 2 1 60 246 158

Payroll and compensation

26 75 39 - 2 - 26 73 39

Training

1 17 10 - 2 1 1 15 9

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

Advertising

7 40 11 2 12 5 5 28 6

Billing

18 68 25 - - - 18 68 25

Marketing

19 110 47 2 5 3 17 105 44

Order processing

23 105 51 2 4 1 21 101 50

Selling

59 343 136 27 217 83 32 126 53

Telemarketing

5 6 8 2 2 6 3 4 2

Customer and after-sales service

Call center activities

25 41 36 16 23 24 9 18 12

Customer service

77 212 124 16 29 14 61 183 110

Installing products

11 17 17 4 2 4 7 15 13

Technical support

8 58 41 - 1 3 8 57 38

Technology and process development

Computer systems development

1 12 13 1 4 2 - 8 11

Computer systems maintenance

8 19 15 1 2 - 7 17 15

Data processing

11 26 13 1 2 1 10 24 12

Internet web services

3 6 5 - 2 2 3 4 3

Software development and testing

3 26 10 - 10 4 3 16 6

Software and IT services

21 90 58 7 7 9 14 83 49

Other business functions

 16 68 38 9 12 15 7 56 23

Other

Events with nonstandard functions reported

110 361 187 69 237 140 41 124 47

Refusal(3)

5 13 2 5 13 2 - - -

Does not know (4)

29 61 30 29 61 30 - - -

(1) Business functions reported in this table were the most frequently cited functions in 2007. Functions are grouped by business process without regard to the industry of the establishment. Therefore, the process "operations" does not appear.
(2) Data were reported by all states and the District of Columbia.
(3) Excludes events in which the employer refused to participate in any part of the employer interview.
(4) Excludes events in which contact with the employer was not possible.
r = revised.
p = preliminary.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.