[maxerickson]

The trades are difficult to completely automate but there are similar impacts from deskilling and moving work into factories.

When I say deskilling, I'm talking about creating products that reduce the amount of skill required to do a task. This increases the pool of labor competing for the job. It also often increases how much a single person can get done in a given amount of time.

Compare PEX and copper pipe fitting.

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Yep, the laser cutter I operate can do in a day what it was taking 4 apprentices to do in a week. And it can do things no human could possibly do with hand tools.

The next thing we'd like to get us something like the Voortman V808[1], that thing should cut or labour input requirements by 50% or more.

1. https://youtu.be/Tk1un34l81E

[chrishynes]

That's the interesting thing. It's the opposite of deskilling that the parent was talking about.

Instead of removing skilled jobs and increasing a job pool of less skilled ones, tech can increase efficiency of master craftsman to the point where there is no need for the less skilled/experienced apprentices, thereby compressing the job pool instead of expanding it.