From 1910 to 1930, more than ten percent of the African-American population in southern American states moved northward, presumably to meet the increased labor demand in many northern cities. It had been widely assumed that most of these workers came from rural areas, but in fact more than a third of them were engaged in skilled trades before they left the South. It may seem curious that such a significant percentage of securely employed people would migrate northward, but in truth workers' conditions in the South were declining rapidly at the time. Therefore, most of these participants in the Great Migration were not enticed by the opportunity to live a more urban lifestyle, but rather by the simple promise of higher wages and a more secure standard of living. The primary purpose of this passage is to