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

IV
2011
III
2012(r)
IV
2012(p)
IV
2011
III
2012(r)
IV
2012(p)
IV
2011
III
2012(r)
IV
2012(p)

Total (2)

 1,796 1,610 2,135 807 661 696 989 949 1,439

Producing goods/providing services

Construction activities

 236 141 205 227 135 184 9 6 21

Producing goods

 175 125 160 146 110 128 29 15 32

Providing services

87 74 85 22 26 20 65 48 65

Accounting services

30 37 22 3 6 1 27 31 21

Contracted services

129 106 141 102 92 87 27 14 54

Engineering services

44 29 48 10 5 7 34 24 41

Entertainment services

82 78 54 80 71 47 2 7 7

Facility maintenance services

47 40 63 9 7 12 38 33 51

Financial management

17 10 12 2 3 - 15 7 12

Financial services

16 16 10 13 8 5 3 8 5

Food and cafeteria services

31 29 36 15 16 16 16 13 20

Gaming services

3 3 4 3 2 3 - 1 1

Health care services

18 16 20 16 14 16 2 2 4

Housekeeping services

 8 4 21 1 - 2 7 4 19

Lodging services

8 1 15 7 1 4 1 - 11

Maintaining and repairing products

 17 17 45 3 6 5 14 11 40

Security services

9 7 8 2 2 5 7 5 3

Assembling products

49 37 46 15 10 9 34 27 37

Fabricating

34 25 38 18 15 11 16 10 27

Quality assurance/quality control

21 43 84 - 1 - 21 42 84

Supervision--first line or direct

 65 58 70 - - - 65 58 70

Procurement, logistics, distribution

Buying

 11 10 14 - - - 11 10 14

Distribution

 32 29 39 5 3 5 27 26 34

Packing

 24 29 33 - 2 2 24 27 31

Receiving

 18 15 22 - - - 18 15 22

Shipping

 23 39 41 1 2 1 22 37 40

Transporting

 21 24 46 10 13 13 11 11 33

Warehousing

 33 40 62 6 9 4 27 31 58

General management and firm infrastructure

Administrative and clerical support

 86 91 89 12 16 13 74 75 76

General management

 84 77 80 3 8 - 81 69 80

Human resource management

Human resources, including recruiting

 43 60 88 4 - 2 39 60 86

Payroll and compensation

 19 17 18 8 5 3 11 12 15

Training

 11 10 15 1 1 2 10 9 13

Marketing, sales, customer accounts

Advertising

 4 2 6 1 1 1 3 1 5

Billing

 5 9 8 - - - 5 9 8

Marketing

 21 14 26 2 - 2 19 14 24

Order processing

12 23 35 - 2 2 12 21 33

Selling

 48 43 78 24 21 34 24 22 44

Telemarketing

 2 5 12 - 4 5 2 1 7

Customer and after-sales service

Call center activities

 11 14 12 8 9 6 3 5 6

Customer service

 59 69 94 5 5 8 54 64 86

Installing products

 18 10 31 2 2 - 16 8 31

Technical support

 22 20 26 1 1 - 21 19 26

Technology and process development

Computer systems development

 3 5 6 1 1 2 2 4 4

Computer systems maintenance

 3 6 4 1 - - 2 6 4

Data processing

 6 9 4 - - - 6 9 4

Internet web services

 2 1 4 - - - 2 1 4

Software development and testing

7 3 6 1 - 3 6 3 3

Software and IT services

 14 10 14 2 1 2 12 9 12

Other business functions

 28 30 35 15 25 24 13 5 11

Other

Events with nonstandard functions reported

44 55 80 25 29 53 19 26 27

Refusal (3)

 - 2 - - 2 - - - -

Does not know (4)

 7 2 3 7 2 3 - - -

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.