During the late nineteenth century, America began a century-long shift from the countryside to the city. This shift accompanied and aided in other important changes, such as the Industrial Revolution in America, massive population growth, the creation of a new artistic and urban culture, and a rise in the average standard of living for its citizens. These new cities served as a structure in which many of these changes would occur. When the American economy began to shift from small independent farms to the “American System of Mass Production” in the early nineteenth century, the population would begin to shift to areas that could support new industries. The rise of industrialization and the migration of workers from rural farms to bustling urban centers occurred simultaneously. The shift of workers to the city would continue at astronomical rates throughout the 1800s. By the turn of the century 40 percent of Americans lived in cities. By 1920 more people lived urban lives than rural lives for the first time in our nation�s history. Many new arrivals to the cities were foreign immigrants, but by far most of the migration to the city was by natives who left their lives as farmers to seek better opportunities in the emerging industries of America. How did a new industrialized economy provide skilled and unskilled laborers for these industries to continue to grow and gain profit?