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Mass Layoff Statistics
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
II
2011
I
2012(r)
II
2012(p)
II
2011
I
2012(r)
II
2012(p)
II
2011
I
2012(r)
II
2012(p)
Total (2)
1,848 1,767 1,651 743 729 659 1,105 1,038 992

Producing goods/providing services

                 
Construction activities
207 185 187 197 173 177 10 12 10
Producing goods
163 136 100 131 114 84 32 22 16
Providing services
102 84 82 43 24 34 59 60 48
Accounting services
26 20 21 1 5 1 25 15 20
Contracted services
77 106 86 43 83 72 34 23 14
Engineering services
42 29 30 11 6 7 31 23 23
Entertainment services
34 73 58 31 69 46 3 4 12
Facility maintenance services
50 45 44 8 5 13 42 40 31
Financial management
12 12 15 2 2 - 10 10 15
Financial services
27 16 12 21 9 9 6 7 3
Food and cafeteria services
36 37 31 17 24 17 19 13 14
Gaming services
9 2 4 9 2 3 - - 1
Health care services
25 23 24 21 19 19 4 4 5
Housekeeping services
10 13 9 1 1 - 9 12 9
Lodging services
3 11 3 1 6 1 2 5 2
Maintaining and repairing products
21 11 22 5 3 3 16 8 19
Security services
9 10 10 2 1 2 7 9 8
Assembling products
36 30 25 14 7 9 22 23 16
Fabricating
37 34 19 19 12 13 18 22 6
Quality assurance/quality control
42 47 44 1 1 - 41 46 44
Supervision--first line or direct
79 81 78 1 - 1 78 81 77

Procurement, logistics, distribution

                 
Buying
7 4 16 - - 1 7 4 15
Distribution
32 43 29 5 9 3 27 34 26
Packing
25 25 18 2 1 2 23 24 16
Receiving
20 23 18 - - - 20 23 18
Shipping
33 37 32 4 4 1 29 33 31
Transporting
22 21 20 7 5 8 15 16 12
Warehousing
38 42 26 12 10 6 26 32 20

General management and firm infrastructure

                 
Administrative and clerical support
107 94 83 13 14 12 94 80 71
General management
122 100 80 4 4 2 118 96 78

Human resource management

                 
Human resources, including recruiting
42 38 63 5 1 1 37 37 62
Payroll and compensation
22 19 21 5 2 10 17 17 11
Training
9 8 12 1 3 3 8 5 9

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

                 
Advertising
3 7 3 - 2 1 3 5 2
Billing
9 4 6 - - - 9 4 6
Marketing
13 15 19 2 2 3 11 13 16
Order processing
27 20 25 3 1 1 24 19 24
Selling
62 67 59 42 43 38 20 24 21
Telemarketing
3 5 6 2 4 3 1 1 3

Customer and after-sales service

                 
Call center activities
18 17 17 11 11 14 7 6 3
Customer service
76 86 95 12 14 12 64 72 83
Installing products
12 6 11 2 2 2 10 4 9
Technical support
27 11 24 4 - - 23 11 24

Technology and process development

                 
Computer systems development
6 6 5 3 1 3 3 5 2
Computer systems maintenance
3 4 11 - 1 1 3 3 10
Data processing
6 5 3 - 1 - 6 4 3
Internet web services
2 2 3 1 1 - 1 1 3
Software development and testing
7 6 5 2 4 2 5 2 3
Software and IT services
15 24 16 2 8 4 13 16 12

Other business functions

33 23 21 20 15 15 13 8 6

Other

                 
Events with nonstandard functions reported
52 43 36 34 29 15 18 14 21
Refusal (3)
1 1 1 1 1 1 - - -
Does not know (4)
6 6 2 6 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.