Table 1. Selected business functions involved in nonseasonal extended mass layoff events, selected quarters, 2011 and 2012

(Number of reports)
Selected business functions by business process (1) Total Main Secondary

III
2011
II
2012(r)
III
2012(p)
III
2011
II
2012(r)
III
2012(p)
III
2011
II
2012(r)
III
2012(p)

Total (2)

 1,872 1,958 1,373 836 868 539 1,036 1,090 834

Producing goods/providing services

Construction activities

 198 226 118 188 215 112 10 11 6

Producing goods

 156 115 108 129 98 95 27 17 13

Providing services

95 82 68 40 35 23 55 47 45

Accounting services

31 25 30 2 2 4 29 23 26

Contracted services

148 145 81 121 128 69 27 17 12

Engineering services

31 33 26 12 7 5 19 26 21

Entertainment services

89 91 53 87 82 46 2 9 7

Facility maintenance services

40 47 37 11 16 7 29 31 30

Financial management

17 16 9 3 1 3 14 15 6

Financial services

22 15 12 16 11 6 6 4 6

Food and cafeteria services

35 32 22 19 19 12 16 13 10

Gaming services

3 4 2 1 3 1 2 1 1

Health care services

33 28 14 31 22 12 2 6 2

Housekeeping services

 10 10 3 1 - - 9 10 3

Lodging services

5 6 1 4 4 1 1 2 -

Maintaining and repairing products

 23 23 15 6 3 5 17 20 10

Security services

8 15 5 3 6 1 5 9 4

Assembling products

35 26 32 14 9 8 21 17 24

Fabricating

18 22 22 12 15 14 6 7 8

Quality assurance/quality control

39 50 37 1 - 1 38 50 36

Supervision--first line or direct

 69 92 49 - 1 - 69 91 49

Procurement, logistics, distribution

Buying

 7 18 9 - 1 - 7 17 9

Distribution

 46 31 27 7 4 4 39 27 23

Packing

 28 22 27 5 3 2 23 19 25

Receiving

 18 20 15 - - - 18 20 15

Shipping

 38 36 35 1 2 2 37 34 33

Transporting

 41 25 21 13 11 12 28 14 9

Warehousing

 34 29 34 9 9 5 25 20 29

General management and firm infrastructure

Administrative and clerical support

 126 93 78 11 13 14 115 80 64

General management

 103 102 67 1 6 7 102 96 60

Human resource management

Human resources, including recruiting

 45 65 55 2 1 - 43 64 55

Payroll and compensation

 21 21 16 6 7 5 15 14 11

Training

 8 13 10 2 3 1 6 10 9

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

Advertising

 5 8 2 2 2 1 3 6 1

Billing

 6 7 8 - - - 6 7 8

Marketing

 15 21 12 1 3 - 14 18 12

Order processing

30 27 19 3 1 2 27 26 17

Selling

 37 65 37 23 44 18 14 21 19

Telemarketing

 6 7 4 5 3 4 1 4 -

Customer and after-sales service

Call center activities

 11 24 12 5 20 8 6 4 4

Customer service

 51 99 63 11 16 4 40 83 59

Installing products

 4 14 10 - 2 2 4 12 8

Technical support

 15 26 19 1 - 1 14 26 18

Technology and process development

Computer systems development

 4 7 2 2 5 - 2 2 2

Computer systems maintenance

 6 12 3 - 1 - 6 11 3

Data processing

 10 2 7 - - - 10 2 7

Internet web services

 5 2 - 1 - - 4 2 -

Software development and testing

4 7 3 2 4 - 2 3 3

Software and IT services

 16 19 8 2 4 1 14 15 7

Other business functions

 27 33 26 20 26 21 7 7 5

Other

Events with nonstandard functions reported

28 53 45 19 23 21 9 30 24

Refusal (3)

 1 1 - 1 1 - - - -

Does not know (4)

 7 6 2 7 6 2 - - -

Footnotes:
(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.
(p) = preliminary.
(r) = revised.

NOTE: Dash represents zero.