It&#x27;s simply true that, barring disaster, the next generation will have it easier with more resources for cheaper. This is because worker productivity continues to rise.<p>More is produced with fewer hours worked. It&#x27;s beyond me why it&#x27;s taken as a given that the result should be a decreasing share of the number of people employed at a constant rate and an increase in the number of people unemployed, rather than say a decline in the number of hours worked per worker. It would be much better to shift to a 35-hour work week and hope everyone would edit Wikipedia or put on free musical performances with the extra time (or 40-hour weeks in the developing world), than shift another eighth of the population into poverty.