Final answer:
Hunter-gatherers did not work harder because they had more leisure time and similar food yields compared to early farmers, who worked long hours. Modern agriculture allows far greater food production with less human labor, often leading to surpluses that highlight distribution issues rather than scarcity.
Step-by-step explanation:
Food collectors, or hunter-gatherers, don't work harder because archaeologists and anthropologists have found that they tended to have more leisure time compared to early farmers. Hunter-gatherers generally worked only a few hours a day, allowing for more free time for leisure activities. In contrast, early farming required long, hard hours for what was often a similar yield to what hunter-gatherers could gather in less time. This lack of incentive to adopt agriculture is evidenced by some groups of hunter-gatherers who chose not to become farmers even after becoming aware of farming techniques.
Moreover, the great increase in yield per hour of human labor in modern agriculture compared to the Early Farming Phase demonstrates a significant shift. For example, in the 1970s in the United States, a single farm worker could produce enough food for 50 people. This efficiency has been achieved through technological advances, better farming practices, and economies of scale, leading to modern situations where food production far exceeds the immediate needs, contributing to issues of food distribution rather than food scarcity.