40% more pool repairers are inconsequential if they will only work on residential pools and what you have is a commercial pool. You haven't dug deep enough into the data yet.

That's my point, the data on why we need more people for the same education isn't available. The data on why we have fewer educators per child, despite more pers in the industry isn't available. We're only told there is a shortage of educators.

That data can generate insight into how to mitigate or reduce the educator to student ratio deficit.

That data could also generate insight into reducing the cost per student, or increasing educator:student ratios at the same cost.

Note: I'm using educator to teacher and support staff, I'm not sure if this is the correct terminology?

Perhaps they are who disappeared? Either by leaving the workforce or by becoming employees, rebalancing with any employees who left the workforce in the same period?

That's a plausible explanation. Probably doesn't apply to education. Perhaps we're seeing reductions in parental volunteerism within education, as a byproduct of increasing cost of living?

capital could do most of the work and people could laze around most days, having little to do. But that's not the choice we made.

Here in lies my greatest problem. Not necessarily that we made that choice, but the byproduct that we have increased the costs to participate in society. Which comes with the third order effect of increasingly minimizing those who cannot afford that participation cost.

We've also reduced jobs/trades that were historically available with a low work : high idle time. For example, farming has historically had high idle time (with backbreaking surge to be sure) but with all the innovations I don't think anyone doubts the long, year round hours farmers are reporting.