My job, a place I spend 1/3 of my days is a core part of my identity. It's also how I manage to feed myself.

Ask a horse buggy driver and find out.

"People like (me)".. And what are me and people like me like?

How's about you say what you're comparing me and people like me to.

In my experience, people who use terms like "You people" are just using that as a placeholder for racism, sexism, or ableism. Which is it in your case?

And 100 years ago, when industry took over something, the new thing still needed people. But thats not a hard economic law - thats just what happened before. There is no guarantee of that observation to still hold true.