quota system

American  

noun

1. a system, originally determined by legislation in 1921, of limiting by nationality the number of immigrants who may enter the U.S. each year.

2. a policy of limiting the number of minority group members in a business firm, school, etc.

3. any hiring or admissions policy requiring that a specified number or percentage of minority group members be hired or admitted.

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Etymology

Origin of quota system

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

quota system

On behalf of the intervenors, Shayla Myers argued that the encampment removal goal, approved by the City Council in a closed session, became a defacto quota system for sanitation workers to discard homeless people’s belongings.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026

The U.A.E. was OPEC’s third-largest producer and has in recent years wanted to boost its output beyond levels allowed by the cartel’s quota system.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026

Faced with rising competitors in the 1980s, it introduced its famous quota system that enabled it to exert more control over the market.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

For decades, the US, European Union and Canada had in place a quota system that reserved a certain share of their markets for developing countries like Sri Lanka.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2025

The quota system has worked for over two hundred years, and although it fluctuates region to region, it makes it crystal clear what each scythe’s responsibility to the world is.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman