Ever since the Industrial Revolution (1780s), the impact of technology has been subject to public debate over its effect on employment - does it cause unemployment or does it underlie the huge increases in standards of living (Jones 1996, p.11)? While it is difficult to determine the relationship between technology and employment, all that can be said with any certainty is that technological advancement has the capacity to create revolutionary economic and social changes (Jones 1996, p.21). In order to provide a clear analysis of the impact of technology on employment, we need to take into account the consequences of technological transitions and seek to relate these to social, economic, political, and cultural factors occurring at the time.
The relationship between technology and employment is at the same time complex and unstable. To illustrate, the term "Luddite" was coined in the early 19th Century to describe mindless machine-breaking (Jones 1996, p.21). The Luddites were skilled cloth-weavers who believed that technology would destroy their livelihood and opportunities for work (Jones 1996, p.22). They were opposed not to the knitting and lace-making machines as such, but more to the "de-skilling" involved as these machines replaced workers which, certainly led to the destruction of craft industries during this period (Jones 1996, p.24).
Historically though, the impact of technology has been to increase productivity in specific areas and in the long-term, "release" workers thereby, creating opportunities for work expansion in other areas. The early 19th Century was marked by a rapid increase in employment on this basis: machinery transformed many workers from craftsmen to machine minders and although numbers fell relative to output - work was replaced by employment in factories (Stewart 1996, p.13).
Nevertheless, many fears to technological advancement have been expressed similarly to that of their predecessors by the "Neo-Luddites" of today (Stewart 1996, p.