It is, however, clear that this exactly balanced effect by no means necessarily happens.

The expansion of consumption of commodities produced by machinery is not necessarily such as to provide employment for the displaced labour in the same trade or its subsidiary trades.

The result of the introduction of machinery may be a displacement of human by mechanical labour, so far as the entire trade is concerned.

The bearing of this tendency is of great significance.

Analysis of recent census returns shows that not only is agriculture rapidly declining in the amount of employment it affords, but that the same tendency occurs in the staple processes of manufacture: either there is an absolute decline in employment, as in the textile and dress trades, or the rate of increase is considerably slower than that of the occupied class as a whole, indicating a relative decline of importance.