[erosenbe0]

Single pane windows, lead pipe, lead paint, knob and tube electrical, no sump pumps, no drainage tile, no Tyvek, clay chimneys, poor insulation, poorly ventilated attics, creaky floors, etc. Old houses have a lot of inferior elements. Sure, the denser wood and some of the masonry or plasterwork is nice, but it ends there.

[willcipriano]

Single pane windows but windows made by hand. Lead pipe but instead of a dozen people in the pipe factory it's a few hundred. Things have gotten better but also much cheaper to produce. If we can't get 2 panes of glass for the price of 1 a hundred years ago something is wrong.

[Alan_Dillman]

>Lead pipe but instead of a dozen people in the pipe factory it's a few hundred

You haven't been in a factory lately, or toured one from 100 years ago?

Its exactly opposite to how you say. Mechanization slimmed the employee count, then automation did it again, then again with everything going digital.

This is seen in all sorts of industries.

The plant I work in has loads of empty offices, former machine shops bereft of millwrights/used for storage), and only half the lockers in the change room are claimed, and that's after they carved out a locker room for female employees. And that's only a 50 year old place.

One night I was working alone, and the site labour supervisor was the only person I saw all night, as he stopped in a few times to check on how I was doing. I asked him how many people he had on site, and he said about 30, including he and I. Since then, when I work nights, I check up on people too. Its a big place. The population swells during the day, but most of it is contractors(like me) and office personnel. But the plant runs 24/7, as much as possible.

I've worked nights in another part of the plant, in finishing/warehouse/loading, and there's about seven people there overnight (and the same during the day), and only one (me) doing actual physical labour(and not hard stuff at all). Because product is mechanically wrapped, packaging is machine counted and printed these days, not hand lettered, moved around via conveyor and forklift, and loaded for shipping with machinery. Even closing the rail car doors is done with a machine.

Even 50-100 years ago, the world ran much more on muscle power and human eyes, and many more employees were needed.

[willcipriano]

I think you read my comment backwards. You are making my point. Industrialization should have made all those things both better and cheaper.