MIGRATION AND BUSINESS CYCLES 
OCCUPATIONAL COMPARISONS 
That the wage-earning element in migration is most susceptible to 
depressions in this country may be illustrated by the fact that in 
severe depression years the ratio of laborers (farm laborers plus 
general laborers) to total immigration decreases, while the “no 
occupation” group becomes a larger fraction of the total. The 
fiscal years 1904, 1908, 1911, 1914, and 1922 correspond with in- 
dustrial depressions, and in each one of these years, as shown in 
Table 40, the “laborers” group, in terms of percentages of the total, 
decreases relatively and the ‘no occupation’ group increases. 
TABLE 40.—THE EFFECT OF DEPRESSIONS UPON THE OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION 
OF IMMIGRANTS? 
YEAR ENDING PER CENT OF TOTAL IMMIGRATION 
June 30 i le AE 
LABORERS AND FARM LABORERS No 0CCUPATION 
1902 49.8 23.6 
1903 46.5 23.3 
1904» 36.4 26.4 
1905 41.9 22.6 
1906 42.3 25.9 
1907 47.8 23.7 
1908» 36.4 31.0 
1909 46.0 29.4 
1910 48.3 25.0 
1911s 37.8 28.0 
1912 38.2 27.6 
1913 45.2 24.8 
1914» 42.2 26.3 
1920 22.6 40.3 
1921 24.0 37.4 
19225 14.0 42.3 
1923 20.9 36.6 
1924 19.2 39.3 
aComputed from statistics compiled by the United States Bureau of Immigration. 
bDepression years. 
oThe war period is omitted. 
Comparison between the cyclical fluctuations in the immigration 
of various occupational groups may also be made by means of the 
relative decline in depression years, as in the accompanying sum- 
mary in Table 41. 
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