A glut of labor often leads to large projects becoming cost effective.
According to my understanding of market economics, an oversupply of labor will drive the cost of such labor down. While governments may try to artificially prop up wages with minimum wage laws and welfare programs, the market will eventually compensate (through inflation generally) and restore balance.
We have no idea what the jobs of tomorrow will be. Could you imaging explaining a web page developer to someone 50 years ago?
Exhibit 'A' .... the Pyramids.
And, to your point about the jobs of tomorrow. Absolutely correct. I'm in IT, and what I'm working on today, wasn't even dreamed of 20 years ago.
Though, I think that "Web Developer" would be pretty easy to explain - "It's a person who maintains a library of information on a computer so that others with computers may access it." Of course, the thought that you'd have a computer in your pocket would be a foreign idea, so maybe not.
Nope, I think the ones that people from 50 years ago would have trouble with are things like "Barista" (You pay how much for a cup of coffee?!! And what's a 'Venti'?) or "Pet Therapist" (????) or "Community Organizer".
:-)
The potential game changer with robots and 3D printers, especially in this world of government interference, is that it’s entirely possible that labor costs cannot fall enough to compete. We’re seeing that with this robot, it’s not competing with $40/hr+ skill manufacturers, it’s competing with minimum wage clerks. These folks can’t get much cheaper, not in a way that allows them to keep a roof over their heads and doesn’t put the employer in violation of the law.