> Neither is more important than the other.

I would say capital is a more important factor than labor, because the tax responsibilities for earnings from different factors are different. Income tax is a lot more than capital gains tax. It is an undeniable fact that our system places more value on growth from capital, than growth due to increased labor efficiency.

The particular person pushing that notion may have been biased, in part due to a brief that society is neatly dividable into workers and the means of production. Certain classes of workers are seen as expendable by "factory owners" who demonstrate this by paint the minimum allowed wage to these classes of employees.