Technology has created more jobs than it's destroyed, says Deloitte study

There are now more bar workers than agricultural labourers - surely a success for technology and humanity?

While it's still a popular choice to allege that technology is putting human beings out of work, a study by Deloitte based on 140 years of data seems to prove otherwise.

Automation, robotics and the simple fact that IT is faster, better connected and capable of massive amounts of analytics and storage means technology has often been held responsible for replacing the roles of people, but census data stretching back to 1871 begs to differ.

"The dominant trend is of contracting employment in agriculture and manufacturing being more than offset by rapid growth in the caring, creative, technology and business services sectors," conclude writers Ian Stewart, Debapratim De and Alex Cole.

And as time marches on, the report reckons that "machines will take on more repetitive and laborious tasks, but seem no closer to eliminating the need for human labour than at any time in the last 150 years".

The report admits that technology has indeed cost jobs from several sectors - washers, launderers, agriculture (though it's debatable how much agriculture has been affected by a rise in importing crops from abroad rather than simply technology) but the report questions whether such jobs would be desierable for a developing human race, anyway.

Reduction in such jobs also reflect an improving quality of life in "a collision of technologies, indoor plumbing, electricity and the affordable automatic washing machine" which, says Deloitte, "have all but put paid to large laundries and the drudgery of hand-washing".

The labour market, the report continues, has shifted from these previous examples of manual work to "caring" professions such as nursing and homecare, with a 909 per cent rise in these sorts of jobs in the last 20 years - coinciding not only in ongoing improvement in technology to help people live, but also an ever-increasing lifespan of people who need caring for one-to-one in later life.

Medicine has seen rising productivity from technology in general, and thus rising employment, with accountants, professional services and educationalists also becoming of greater number in these so-called "knowledge sectors". Again, it seems to point to technology guiding the way for a better qualified workforce who can tackle more personally fulfilling work.

At the same time, so-called "luxury" consumer practice is now better within the grasp of those on lower salaries, with more bar workers and hairdressers now in employment than ever before.

The disparity in the general thinking of people, perhaps, is in embracing change. While the absence of some types of work appears stark, and technology appears ‘to blame', when consulting the facts, "the stock of work in the economy is not fixed", as the report states. As one type of work becomes automated or made redundant by technology, there are always other roles waiting in the wings to keep humanity living increasingly fruitful and enjoyable existences.