> Cheaper knowledge work increases demand for knowledge work.
This is Jevon's paradox.
> So the number of workers required might actually increase.
The increased demand for work turning into new jobs for existing workers, that is where the question is more complex.
This has gone the other way too in matters of muscle - people who wouldn't have been employed before can now be hired to do an existing task.
When you go from pulling shopping carts to an electrical machine that pulls carts for you, now you can hire a 60 year old to pull carts in the parking lot where previously that job would be filled by teens.
This is all a toss-up right now.
In an ideal world, I will be paying less for the same amount of knowledge work in the future, but as a worker I might get paid more for the same hours I spend at work.
My hours are limited, but my output is less limited than before.
Itβs actually the Jevons paradox, non possessive, named for William Stanley Jevons. I thought it was possessive too because many people write it that way.
This is Jevon's paradox.
> So the number of workers required might actually increase.
The increased demand for work turning into new jobs for existing workers, that is where the question is more complex.
This has gone the other way too in matters of muscle - people who wouldn't have been employed before can now be hired to do an existing task.
When you go from pulling shopping carts to an electrical machine that pulls carts for you, now you can hire a 60 year old to pull carts in the parking lot where previously that job would be filled by teens.
This is all a toss-up right now.
In an ideal world, I will be paying less for the same amount of knowledge work in the future, but as a worker I might get paid more for the same hours I spend at work.
My hours are limited, but my output is less limited than before.