The employment ratio of population has steadily dropped. Economists call it the 'labor participation rate', and it has declined quite markedly since ~2000 or so:
http://www.alhambrapartners.com/2018/01/05/the-reluctant-lab...
See the 'Two Labor Stories' chart.
"The lack of labor force growth going on nearly a decade now means that in every likelihood there remains a deep pool of American labor from among which Americans would work if there was any (at the margins) to be hired at a decent rate."
Long history: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
LPR initially went up as women joined the workforce; it peaked around 1997.
It's fairly clear that more jobs would be better for the US work force; it's less clear whether automation is the main thing driving the reduction in job "quality" and labor force participation.
It seems that jobs on average now are "lower quality" than jobs then, but maybe the better take on that growth, given the headwinds, is that it has not been so bad?