“Hitherto it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being.” —John Stuart Mill, 1848

There is always work to be done to reproduce society, but if reproducing society doesn’t turn a profit for the owning class, the work doesn’t get done and society doesn’t get reproduced.

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendency_of_the_rate_of_profit_to...