I should have gone back further. I was thinking of the promises made in the 70's and 80's, magazines suggesting that by the year 2,000, we will all be lying on a beach because the machines will do all the tasks for us.
This is the kind of thing that was in my head: -https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ty-pay-new-economics-foundation-a9102446.html
Arguably though, still using your data set, the increase and continual improvement of machines and automation has not seen any real improvement in UK working hours for the majority, on average.
So, all these new machines are coming in. Automated warehousing and picking/packing machines. Automated production lines. Yet, working hours have stayed the largely the same.
Yes, people will change to different sectors or qualify in other areas to move jobs but the speed at which machines are taking over is gathering pace. People are being squeezed in to roles that they never thought they'd have to do. Some people can't squeeze, so they get left behind. The pace of technology is likely catching up to the learning curve of people moving to new jobs and learning new skills.
You don't consider an hour decrease in 20 years being good?
What you appear to want is reduced working hours. However what some other people want is increased income.
Can both be done together?
And what you have described is very similar to what has been said since the industrial revolution.
Wasn't so many decades ago that people left school and got a job for life. Now outside government work that's a lot rarer.
People find new jobs. Its still possible these days to find work.
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