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

III
2008
II
2009(r)
III
2009(p)
III
2008
II
2009(r)
III
2009(p)
III
2008
II
2009(r)
III
2009(p)

Total (2)

2,888 5,169 2,901 926 1,811 1,068 1,962 3,358 1,833

Producing goods/providing services

Construction activities

215 376 276 207 348 269 8 28 7

Producing goods

315 633 348 278 585 329 37 48 19

Providing services

42 82 63 18 49 30 24 33 33

Accounting services

60 115 60 7 10 7 53 105 53

Contracted services

55 103 92 49 79 63 6 24 29

Engineering services

40 115 60 7 20 18 33 95 42

Entertainment services

13 22 14 13 18 14 - 4 -

Facility maintenance services

98 177 91 4 12 4 94 165 87

Financial management

19 37 20 2 3 2 17 34 18

Financial services

38 53 32 26 35 22 12 18 10

Food and cafeteria services

49 36 43 29 19 19 20 17 24

Health care services

23 27 29 19 20 18 4 7 11

Housekeeping services

16 40 22 3 6 4 13 34 18

Lodging services

8 20 16 3 13 8 5 7 8

Maintaining and repairing products

24 43 32 6 9 6 18 34 26

Security services

12 9 20 5 3 10 7 6 10

Assembling products

79 175 64 36 96 25 43 79 39

Fabricating

46 174 66 27 137 46 19 37 20

Quality assurance/quality control

74 145 77 - - 1 74 145 76

Supervision--first line or direct

135 243 148 1 2 - 134 241 148

Procurement, logistics, distribution

Buying

28 38 14 - 1 - 28 37 14

Distribution

63 77 33 13 18 8 50 59 25

Packing

38 69 32 2 5 4 36 64 28

Receiving

54 88 49 - - - 54 88 49

Shipping

88 172 85 5 18 10 83 154 75

Transporting

62 97 48 22 35 19 40 62 29

Warehousing

66 120 66 8 19 12 58 101 54

General management and firm infrastructure

Administrative support

177 331 178 12 21 12 165 310 166

Clerical support

170 275 132 4 10 2 166 265 130

General management

160 304 164 5 17 6 155 287 158

Human resource management

Human resources, including recruiting

103 178 88 3 2 1 100 176 87

Payroll and compensation

46 50 34 - 1 - 46 49 34

Training

8 11 8 - 1 2 8 10 6

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

Advertising

8 13 9 - 5 2 8 8 7

Billing

21 28 10 - - - 21 28 10

Marketing

41 53 24 5 4 3 36 49 21

Order processing

34 56 28 2 2 2 32 54 26

Selling

88 151 55 44 91 31 44 60 24

Telemarketing

7 12 6 3 8 4 4 4 2

Customer and after-sales service

Call center activities

26 39 23 16 25 13 10 14 10

Customer service

107 139 97 11 15 10 96 124 87

Installing products

4 18 10 - 4 1 4 14 9

Technical support

22 43 24 3 3 1 19 40 23

Technology and process development

Computer systems development

6 15 5 3 3 2 3 12 3

Computer systems maintenance

12 19 13 1 - 1 11 19 12

Data processing

13 16 13 2 2 - 11 14 13

Internet web services

4 5 3 1 2 - 3 3 3

Software development and testing

10 13 7 3 4 1 7 9 6

Software and IT services

32 64 39 3 9 7 29 55 32

Other business functions

 29 50 31 15 22 19 14 28 12

Other

Events with nonstandard functions reported

128 207 126 75 150 87 53 57 39

Refusal (3)

3 4 6 3 4 6 - - -

Does not know (4)

64 37 18 64 37 18 - - -

(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.