>The days when working in a factory was enough for a good middle class life are dead and will never come back. Manufacturing, long term, is likely to look like agriculture does today: employing only a relative handful of people.
I'd modify that somewhat. The days when working in a factory as an unskilled labourer paid a middle class income are over, but someone still needs to install, maintain, and program the robots. Those jobs are likely to pay better than the unskilled labour the robots made redundant, but there will be fewer of them.
I'd modify that somewhat. The days when working in a factory as an unskilled labourer paid a middle class income are over, but someone still needs to install, maintain, and program the robots. Those jobs are likely to pay better than the unskilled labour the robots made redundant, but there will be fewer of them.