Technology and automation has led to much greater efficiencies and output for every human in the workforce over the last 50 years. How come this hasn’t led globally to less working hours or a shorter work week for the average worker?

Question

EDIT: Replace ‘every human in the workforce’ with ‘most people’. I agree efficiency has not been gained equally across all professions.

In: Economics

Answer 1

It’s mainly due to the population increasing and more people having access to more advanced technologies with the improvements not meeting/exceeding the increased demand.

The world population has more than doubled since 1970 to now. In 1970, there were 3.7 billion people whilst in 2020 there was an estimated 7.8 billion people. This increases the demand of products and services.

Also, the vast majority of the extra population are from poor countries which through the development of the country means more people can afford the new and better items. So that could mean in 1970 only 30% could obtain it but through development in the country there could be 50% of people who can afford them (these are random figures).