I don't think this is true at all. How many unskilled laborers does a single corn combine harvester + skilled operator replace? How many unskilled laborers does a single skidder/tree harvester with a skilled operator replace?
Sure there are exceptions, but the people displaced by that found more newly created unskilled jobs in factories. Mass production and manufacturing had previously only been done by skilled craftsman and now was employing most of the population. And today that is finally going away completely.
