I don't think it's a grand conspiracy (and I know you're not saying that) but pushing buttons and pulling levers in a factory for a paycheck was a marked improvement over dirty water and subsistence farming.
For the miller, yes (kindof), for the person who couldn't afford a mill, no. Their best hope was to sell their kid off as a 'apprentice' to the miller.
Of course the miller could only expand/improve their setup as much as their own skillset allowed, greatly reducing productivity which, spread out across the entire economy, provided a much lower standard of living.