Technology creates more jobs than it destroys, including some you can’t imagine at the outset. But the transition period was difficult for individual workers and eased only after substantial policy reforms.ģ. Eventually, wage growth caught up to and then surpassed productivity growth. During the Industrial Revolution in England, average real wages stagnated for decades, even as productivity rose. Please email us at: Employment shifts can be painful.Įven if enough new jobs have been created to offset those displaced by technology, the shifts can have painful consequences for some workers. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. New industries and occupations have emerged to absorb workers displaced by technology. Throughout these large shifts of workers across occupations and sectors, overall employment as a share of the population has continued to grow. Other countries have experienced even faster declines: one-third of China’s workforce moved out of agriculture between 19. In the United States, the agricultural share of total employment declined from 60 percent in 1850 to less than 5 percent by 1970, while manufacturing fell from 26 percent of total US employment in 1960 to below 10 percent today. Employment in some sectors can decline sharply, but new jobs created elsewhere have absorbed those that have been displaced.Īll advanced economies have experienced profound sectoral shifts in employment, first in agriculture and more recently in manufacturing, even as overall employment has grown. Technology adoption can, and often does, cause significant short-term labor displacement, but history shows that in the longer run, it creates a multitude of new jobs and unleashes demand for existing ones, more than offsetting the number of jobs it destroys, even as it raises labor productivity.Īn examination of the historical record highlights several lessons.
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