Chill out, futurists — the machines haven't taken over yet. Deloitte economists studied how technological advances since 1871 have affected job numbers in United Kingdom and Wales, and found that "unremittingly cheerful" results, according to the Guardian: the rise of technology has actually created more jobs in the last 150 years than it has destroyed. Plot twist!
Apparently, despite all the hullabaloo about humanity's impending doom, machines haven't posed a serious threat to human workers at any point since the nineteenth century, says the study.
Instead, machines have merely replaced hard or repetitive work, like those tasks done by agricultural workers, washers, weavers, typists, and company secretaries. At the same time, humans are now employed in more "caring" jobs, as teachers, caretakers, community workers, nurses, and more. And with the internet and the world's information being just a search engine away, we've seen more jobs (done by humans) in the fields like medicine and finance.
There are also more barhands (praise) and hairdressers (praise!), perhaps because as productivity rises and prices drop, consumers can afford to drop more on luxuries and self-care. So thanks, robots — we're big fan of all those happy hours and blowout bars. Keep 'em coming.
[via the Guardian]
