MIGRATION AND BUSINESS CYCLES 
Of the several indices of employment conditions in the years 
1919 to 1923, one of the most significant for our purposes is the 
“labor market” index, described in the following paragraph. 
Immigration and the State of the Labor Market. 
For the years 1919 to 1923, the Federal Reserve Board has pub- 
lished an index of the state of the labor market, based upon the 
ratio of jobs to applicants in the operations of the public employment 
CHART 24 
CycLES OF EMPLOYMENT AND OF MALE IMMIGRATION IN THE PosT- 
WAR PERIOD: 1919-1923- 
Deviations from the average for the period 1919-1922, seasonally 
adjusted 
Unit= one standard deviation 
+307 —— — — 
+20 : a 
ALE IMP. 
+0 Ta, 
of 74 | br 
to er EhriovMes : 3 | : | 
24 [FHA [Als [o mo 3 [Fila M3 3 [a[S[o[nTo 3 [FIm[aM[3 [3 [als [o]n STFMIAME 3 [a]sTo [Ne [3 [F[M[AIMIJ[ ]A]s[e [Ni] 
1919 1920 Ln Ni 1922 1923 
sNumerical data in Table 31. The employment index is computed from the ratio 
of jobs to applicants in public employment offices in six states. 
offices in six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, 
Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin.! In the period from July 1, 1918, to 
June 30, 1923, over half of the total number of immigrants named 
one of these six states as their intended destination. This index is 
of special interest, not only because the states in question are those 
to which a large proportion of newly arrived immigrants are destined, 
but also because the business of the public employment offices is 
with the common laborer to a large extent, and not only with 
factory labor but with construction labor as well. 
1Federal Reserve Bulletin, February 1924, p. 87. 
128