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by margalabargala 7 days ago
Most labor by any measurement is not knowledge work like software engineering.
1 comments

If by most, you literally mean > 50%, sure. But I've heard it quoted that knowledge work in advanced economies is something like 40%. So, we are still talking extremely large numbers.
They are also the higher earners who buy more of the things.

Henry Ford said he needed to pay his workers enough that they could afford his cars.

I meant by dollar amount, not headcount.
OK, but look, again, if you take away a good chunk of the money that goes to employing people — that is what you mean, right? This money is lost to the labour market one way or another — then don't they buy less stuff because they have less money?

It's the same as if you had taken half their jobs and forced everyone into underemployment through job sharing.

Your formulation forswears them finding replacement jobs because the money will have gone to AI companies instead, and it necessarily implies people having less money to spend.

No, it doesn't. The economy can grow. Money isn't some fixed amount thing.