Man and machines

In 1871 there was one hairdresser for every 1793 citizens of England and Wales; today there is one for every 287. This factoid comes from an interesting study looking at the impact of technology on employment. It seems that technology benefits society and creates new employment in new sectors. Technology shrinks employment as it replaces labour as the source of energy but increases it in knowledge intensive sectors and areas of the drivers of technological change. Also, technological change lowers expenditure on essentials and thus releases spending to create new demands and new jobs.