When the Industrial Revolution came around, the amount of value a worker could produce increased a great deal. But society saw that increase as belonging to th

When the Industrial Revolution came around, the amount of value a worker could produce increased a great deal. But society saw that increase as belonging to the business owner who purchased the machine. Wages fell and fell as worker productivity increased. Entire families, including children, had to work just to survive. After a great deal of fighting, and not a little bloodshed, we got the definition of a 40 hour workweek, and society came to see it as proper that a single person working 40 hours a week should be paid a wage high enough that they could comfortably support an entire family. Society expected employers to share the increased value workers were generating with the workers. We're facing a similar situation now. Computers and automation technology came into the workplace around 1980 or so. And society sees the increased value workers create thanks to these tools as belonging to the company, not to the worker. The idea that a worker should be paid enough that they can work 40 hours and provide for an entire family comfortably has vanished. Now the concern is only that no one be paid above the market rate for their position, and that the market rate be kept low. Society and the business world was entirely unprepared with the breakneck pace of productivity growth that computers brought about. The idea of having wages keep pace with the productivity gains simply seemed absurd, as it would require large and frequent raises. And now we've gotten so far behind, with wages stagnating for decades while companies have grown accustomed to ludicrous profit margins, that any reasonable correction seems ridiculous. Will we see society come around and consider it proper that a worker once more is entitled to a good portion of the value they create? Or will companies devalue jobs to the point where taking one costs more than they pay? Will we be able to avoid bloodshed this time?