SEASONAL FLUCTUATIONS 7 
54.9 per cent of the total number of male immigrants arrived in 
these five months, July to November; in the next year 41.9 per cent; 
and in the third year, ending June 30, 1924, 63.0 per cent. In other 
words, the effect of this law was to encourage a large fraction of the 
total number of immigrants to enter just prior to the mid-winter 
slump in employment (see Chart 54). 
The revision of the quota act in 1924, which limited to ten per 
cent of its annual quota the number admissible from a given country 
in one month, again changed the seasonal distribution. This ten- 
per cent provision tends to distribute immigration somewhat 
evenly throughout the year, especially from July to April, inclusive; 
but the distribution is still without regard to seasonal fluctuations 
in employment. Under this law approximately as many or more 
immigrants will be admitted in the months of November and De- 
cember, when employment is declining, as in April and May when 
the demand for workers is increasing. 
CHAPTER SUMMARY 
Pre-war immigration and emigration each evidence a characteristic 
seasonal variation. Immigration, particularly of those classes which 
are most likely to furnish recruits to the ranks of the workers, has, 
in the pre-restriction period, a marked peak of activity in March, 
April, and May. Emigration on the other hand, is at a maximum 
in the closing months of the year. Consequently net migration 
shows a large excess of arrivals in the second quarter of the year, a 
secondary peak in the early fall, and a marked decline in November 
and December. In fact, a net outgo of alien males occurs in Decem- 
ber. 
Upon comparison with the seasonal fluctuations in those industries 
which are the primary employers of immigrant labor, we find that 
there are considerable differences in the degree to which the seasonal 
variation in migration and in employment is synchronous. The 
agreement is poor for bituminous coal mining, fair for anthracite 
coal mining and factory employment, and still better for the selected 
outdoor industries, namely construction and railway maintenance. 
A comparison by months between net male arrivals and estimates 
of the typical month-to-month changes in the number of persons 
employed in the selected industries does not yield unequivocal 
evidence as to whether migration aggravates or lessens seasonal 
unemployment. It appears that, on the average, in three of the 
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