quota system

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of quota system¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

What started with students protesting against a quota system for government jobs eventually turned into broader demonstrations calling for an end to Hasina’s authoritarian rule.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A helpful program note by dramaturg Adrian Trujillo Centeno explains that the law eliminated “the national origins quota system that had favored Northern and Western Europeans since the 1920s.”

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At least 25 percent of parliamentary seats must go to women, according to the quota system that also reserves nine seats for minorities.

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Execution risks remain, as does uncertainty surrounding the U.S. tariff quota system, Deutsche adds.

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The EU says Brussels and Washington will work to cut that number and that they will be replaced by a quota system to come beyond 1 August.

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