Push Factors of Internal Migration

People moved because there was new technology in the Highlands and other rural areas.

For example, labour saving technology such as the threshing machine cut down the number of farm workers that were needed and so, man days were cut down from 22 man-days in 1840 to 12 in 1914 in the lowlands. Therefore people internally migrated because as newer technology caused less needed manual labour in the Highlands, people lost their jobs and had to internally migrated because as to the city to find other employment and sustain financially, their family and their own lifestyle.

People moved because there was poor housing, especially in the Highlands.

Black houses, common houses built in the Highlands had walls made of clay and wattle, and poor infrastructure led to damp, cold indoors and smoke dust. Therefore, people internally migrated because their housing was poor, and they needed better housing to accommodate themselves to raise their standard of living and provide their families with adequate shelter to better survive.

People moved because there was a population rise in the Highlands.

Due to this, the available land for crofting was divided up more making it increasingly uneconomic to farm. Therefore people internally migrated because they could not earn enough money as they did not have enough crops growing to sell and sustain their income, which led them needing to search for other jobs that gave them more financial stability, these jobs being in cities, so they could attain financial stability and avoid cost of living problems and poverty.

Some people moved because they were cleared off their land.

Landowners cleared farmers off the land as they were becoming unprofitable to them and replaced the farmers and their unprofitable black cattle with sheep which made considerably more money for the landowners. Therefore, people internally migrated because they were kicked out of their land and evicted, which led to them needing shelter which they could find in the city, so they could avoid homelessness.

People moved because of crop failures.

For example, from 1846-56, the potato crop was devastated by potato blight in farming communities of the Hebrides and the Western Scottish Highlands and crop failure also occurred in 1926 due to atrocious weather conditions. Therefore, people internally migrated because they could not grow crops such as potato and needed a source of food which could be found in the city, in order to maintain nutrition, physical health and avoid starvation.

People moved from the coast due to kelp becoming more and more unprofitable to pick and sell.

For example, by 1830, the kelp industry had lost so much demand that prices for a ton of kelp dropped from £22 to £5 and profits began to disappear.Therefore, people internally migrated because the failure of selling kelp les them to financial struggles which forced them to the city in need of higher income work to sustain their lifestyle.