Construction hasn't gotten cheaper in the US, though. In fact, it's more expensive than ever. Yet, individual labor wages have not increased, So...what's going

Construction hasn't gotten cheaper in the US, though. In fact, it's more expensive than ever. Yet, individual labor wages have not increased, So...what's going on? Other factors. You can't ignore them just because it suits your argument. The fact is, it's demand driven, and why in 2009 there was no demand (despite how much automation was available.) And workers aren't seeing the gains of automation (e.g. many are being replaced by them.) > I don't really buy that. It's true that most positions are IC positions, i.e. not managers, but quite a lot of them require domain knowledge and human intervention in edge cases which can't be handled by automation. If automation could solve all the problems, why are so many people oncall? I don't mean IC vs manager. In any case, at my company our support staff has been reduced by 75%. In my previous life as a mechanical engineer, I've seen control systems replace 90% of powerplant staff. Also, generative AI just became a thing - because SWEs can be more efficient, you simply need less, UNLESS there is growth or a new market emerges (certainly possible), in any case millions will be left behind, just as what happened in the rust belt when manufacturing collapsed. In any case, I hope you're right and I'm wrong :)