The needle trades have been and remain seasonal, both in the U.S. and Europe. The Tirocchi shop was no exception, closing each year during the 1920s for six to eight weeks in late summer, and for an additional few weeks in February and March during the mid-to-late 1930s. The 1919-21 time book shows some of the complexities of seamstresses' comings and goings. Theresa Marianetti began her summer break a month or two before the others in both 1919 and 1920. Perhaps she had schoolchildren who required her care. If so, the Tirocchi sisters valued her enough to allow her flexibility, for she returned to 514 Broadway in the fall of each year and received a pay increase of sixty-seven percent during these two years. (Theresa was an in-law of Salvatore Tirocchi's daughter Elvira Tirocchi Marianetti and also of Salvatore's granddaughter Louisa.) Some other work-force changes also seemed to have been seasonal in nature, with many employees disappearing during the summer break and many new workers appearing in the fall. In 1919, for example, five workers did not return at the end of the break, and five new ones took their places; but there were constant arrivals and departures. Seven weeks was the longest period in this time book during which the labor force remained the same.

Some women seem to have entered and left the Tirocchi work force in pairs or groups. Five women - Laura (definitely not Laura Tirocchi), Veronica, Margaret Volta, Marie, and Margaret C. - all left Tirocchi employ at the end of the week of January 17, 1920. Laura, Veronica, and Margaret Volta had been sewing for the Tirocchis at least since the first entry in that book, which was for the week of April 19, 1919, and they worked steadily until mid-January 1920. Laura returned only for two two-week stints in the late spring and early summer of 1920. Veronica and Margaret Volta returned to 514 Broadway within a week of each other in October 1920 and left forever within a week of each other in December. Judging by their pay rates, Veronica was a more skilled and/or experienced worker than Margaret Volta. Perhaps they worked as a team. Marie and Margaret C. began working for the Tirocchis at the end of the summer 1919 break and worked steadily until mid-January 1920. Because their names are so common, it is difficult to trace their subsequent history. Were all five laid off in the post-Christmas business lull? Were they friends who quit in some act of solidarity? Were they on the losing end of a workplace dispute?(33)

The five women were almost certainly not laid off for lack of work. Their total weekly salary rates added up to $41.50, but within the next three weeks they were replaced by seven new workers whose aggregate wages were $66.90. The Tirocchis were clearly not cutting the overall payroll or seeking to hire cheaper workers, since the average salary of the new hires was $1.25 a week more than that of the departed seamstresses. Some, but far from all, of the higher wages are attributable to the fact that post-World War I inflation had not yet run its course. More likely, the Tirocchis were trying to upgrade their work force. Three of those who departed were paid at middling rates and two at low rates; two of their replacements earned top rates, four earned middling rates, and only one a low rate. This interpretation is supported by the fact that three of the new employees - Emily Valcarenghi Martinelli, Patricia Scalera, and Ida Del Matto - became "career" workers who each spent well over ten years with the Tirocchi shop.