Back in the 1970s a famous politician once declared "By 2010 we will have a 3 day week, because machines will do many of the jobs humans do today" (I can't remember who it was).
The second part of the prediction has more or less come true. Technological progress, automation and the IT revolution has meant that less labor is required to make stuff. In the 1970s a factory with 1000 workers had a lower output than a factory with 100 workers does today. Even service jobs are slowly being replaced by machines. My local supermarket, for example, has introduced self-service check-out tills and fired half of the staff.
But what about the first part of the prediction? If it takes less and less people to make more and more stuff, why do people need to work ever longer hours? It doesn't add up. What are all these people actually DOING in their job, if machines do most of the work anyhow? Could it be that most "service economy" jobs just move wealth from A to B, rather than actually create it?
2007-04-13
05:19:25
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8 answers
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asked by
musutut
1