<story><title>The good old days? In many ways, yes</title><url>https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/the-good-old-days-in-many-ways-yes</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>coldtea</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;It just doesn&amp;#x27;t take that many people to do all the stuff.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s impossible. A couples of times in the past when we evolved major new technologies (e.g. industrial revolution) new jobs were created. This means there will _always_ be new jobs, it&amp;#x27;s like a contract with history.&lt;p&gt;&amp;#x2F;s -- but also how many think, taking 2-3 historical cases as some kind of necessary eternal motif.</text></item><item><author>Animats</author><text>It just doesn&amp;#x27;t take that many people to do all the stuff.[1] The automation revolution happened a long time ago.[2] Peak manufacturing employment was in 1979. Agriculture is down to 1.4%. Making stuff (mining, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture) is at 14% and dropping. Those were the classic blue-collar jobs. They&amp;#x27;re the ones where large numbers of people were employed doing repetitive work under close supervision. Many of those jobs were unionized and paid OK. Even for people with IQ below 100. Not any more.&lt;p&gt;For a while, &amp;quot;services&amp;quot; employed more people. Then came cheap computing and the Internet. No more file clerks. Much less paper-pushing. Fewer retail salespeople. Fewer bank tellers. Both retail and finance are dropping in headcount.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s what happened.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;emp&amp;#x2F;tables&amp;#x2F;employment-by-major-industry-sector.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;emp&amp;#x2F;tables&amp;#x2F;employment-by-major-industry-...&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fred.stlouisfed.org&amp;#x2F;series&amp;#x2F;MANEMP&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fred.stlouisfed.org&amp;#x2F;series&amp;#x2F;MANEMP&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>scarface74</author><text>Before the digital economy, there was no concept of zero marginal cost. To produce more of something, you needed more people. A few people with an idea, a credit card, and an AWS account can scale a business that can serve millions. Before the Internet, how could 10 people create a business that was worth a billion dollars like Instagram?&lt;p&gt;Microsoft sells Windows licenses with zero marginal costs.</text></comment>
<story><title>The good old days? In many ways, yes</title><url>https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/the-good-old-days-in-many-ways-yes</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>coldtea</author><text>&amp;gt;&lt;i&gt;It just doesn&amp;#x27;t take that many people to do all the stuff.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s impossible. A couples of times in the past when we evolved major new technologies (e.g. industrial revolution) new jobs were created. This means there will _always_ be new jobs, it&amp;#x27;s like a contract with history.&lt;p&gt;&amp;#x2F;s -- but also how many think, taking 2-3 historical cases as some kind of necessary eternal motif.</text></item><item><author>Animats</author><text>It just doesn&amp;#x27;t take that many people to do all the stuff.[1] The automation revolution happened a long time ago.[2] Peak manufacturing employment was in 1979. Agriculture is down to 1.4%. Making stuff (mining, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture) is at 14% and dropping. Those were the classic blue-collar jobs. They&amp;#x27;re the ones where large numbers of people were employed doing repetitive work under close supervision. Many of those jobs were unionized and paid OK. Even for people with IQ below 100. Not any more.&lt;p&gt;For a while, &amp;quot;services&amp;quot; employed more people. Then came cheap computing and the Internet. No more file clerks. Much less paper-pushing. Fewer retail salespeople. Fewer bank tellers. Both retail and finance are dropping in headcount.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s what happened.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;emp&amp;#x2F;tables&amp;#x2F;employment-by-major-industry-sector.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;emp&amp;#x2F;tables&amp;#x2F;employment-by-major-industry-...&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fred.stlouisfed.org&amp;#x2F;series&amp;#x2F;MANEMP&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;fred.stlouisfed.org&amp;#x2F;series&amp;#x2F;MANEMP&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rcdmd</author><text>I think you&amp;#x27;re both right. The commenter above you is just taking the short view and you&amp;#x27;re taking the long view. Automation is great for long-term productivity and the supply of better, cheaper goods&amp;#x2F;services, but you can&amp;#x27;t argue it makes for a happy former file-clerk 5 years away from retirement who now has to find a new gig.</text></comment>