Thanks to the Industrial Revolution, new technologies in cotton textiles, iron and steel, and transportation delivered steadily rising levels of labor productivity for the first time in history. First in Britain in the mid-eighteenth century, and then in Western Europe and North America, men and women flocked from the countryside to towns to satisfy factories’ growing demand for labor.
拜工业革命所赐，棉花纺织、钢铁和交通方面的新科技给我们带来了历史上第一次劳动生产率水平的稳步提高。先是十九世纪中叶的英国，然后是西欧和北美，男男女女从乡村涌向城镇以满足工厂对劳动力的不断增长的需求。