[ctdonath2]

The problem is exacerbated by laws prohibiting low skilled labor. Many are eating on the dole because it's illegal to pay them what their work is worth. The work still needs doing, so factories opt to spend the money on a few smart people who can (via automation etc) reduce the total number of people needed for the work.

One upcoming form of this is "large-scale 3D printing", to wit: rather than hiring a bunch of individually cheap workers to assemble a small building, a business can haul in a clever machine which can "print" the main structure with concrete, operated by just a few skilled workers. Example

The nature of human progress is to build a business serving a new need, satisfy that need, and to reduce the resources needed (human and otherwise) to produce it.

[DManA]

Bucky Fuller - Ephemeralization

the ability of technological advancement to do “more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization