> technology has never reduced the amount of work. And then a couple sentences later... > At the end of the 18th Century, 90 percent of the US workforce was

> technology has never reduced the amount of work. And then a couple sentences later... > At the end of the 18th Century, 90 percent of the US workforce was employed in agriculture. As of 2009 (the latest year for which there are figures), less than 0.7 percent are farmers. It’s not the case that now 90 percent of Americans are out of work; they’re now engaged in other, often less back-breaking labour. The percentage of people engaged in hard, dangerous and boring jobs has tumbled. That is a clear contradiction even if we had the same level of employment we did back then (which we don't when you account for child farm labor and low rates of retirement), "less back-breaking labour" is less labor.