Indeed, technology advances usually mean more efficiency and fewer jobs. Still better than the alternative.
That really isn't true; I mean, are there more jobs now, or were there in 1800?
In theory, technology is supposed to lower costs, which increases demand. As demand increases, then jobs are created to fill that demand.
What's happening now is a bit more complex. It's a part of the overall increased stratification of the world between haves and have-nots. Only in this case the "haves" are the select few with the engineering, computer, energy and medical skills that are in demand, while the "have nots" are everyone else.I should have added something about "in a specific industry, more efficiency means fewer jobs". Obviously there are "more jobs" now than 200 years ago, but it takes a lot less people to make, say, a shirt now than then. Just like it takes fewer people to make a car now than it did thirty years ago. We have less factory work now but we make more than we ever have. This is a good thing because factory work sucks. Granted, if you arn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and don't mind working in a loud, dangerous place pushing the same button over and over again for thirty years it kind of sucks for you, but for the rest of us it's better because our lawn mowers are cheaper. Sure, unloading trucks at Sears doesn't pay as much as putting fenders on Fords did in 1979, but it was pretty stupid of us to pay Johnny High School dropout more than we paid Mrs. Englishteacher.
But to your point, yes, it is better to be in medicine or technology. Everybody knows this. My school counselors in the late 80s knew this. If you want to make money, you go into fields that make money. If you want to do what you love, you can probably survive doing that, but you're not going to make as much as the guy that went to trade school to learn HVAC work and why should you? Few people dream of being and HVAC guy when they grow up, but it's something that is obviously needed. If you do something nobody wants to do, you'll get paid more, that's how it works. Nothing is stopping people from going to their local community college or trade school and learning a needed trade, in fact, it's actually pretty easy, even if you're flat broke.
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