The Essence of Automation: The Never Get Enough Principle

Since 1900, farming jobs fell from 41% to 1.9% of the United States workforce. Yet, at the same time, overall employment is up. Why are there still so many jobs? Why not kick back and let those robots do all our work for us?

The answer to this question is what MIT economist David Autor calls the Never Get Enough principle. As soon as we’re satisfied, we strive for more.

For example, as tractors made it easier to produce food, we invented new stuff and new things to work on: air conditioning, computers, the internet, CT scans, vaccines, art, skateboards, Slinkies, and Pet Rocks. 

We can never get enough!

And making all that stuff created new jobs.

It happened with farming. It happened with ATMs. Robots aren’t competitors; we stand on their shoulders to reach new heights.

But automation does eliminate jobs. And it does so indiscriminately--robots replace important middle-skill jobs first. So the next question is, how can we manage which jobs are displaced to ensure a healthy, fair, and diverse economy? And what kind of jobs will prevail? 

These questions are the subject of the next few posts.

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