The earliest humans, hunter/gatherers, so far as we know, actually did very little work, and had most of their time free to do as they pleased. Once we learned to bring down large animals -- which could feed a lot of people -- and foraging easily yielded what else was needed. As we "developed" into more settled agriculture, there's little doubt that the average farmer worked a lot harder than the average forager. And as we developed technology, it only got worse.
This is not to say which is right...more or less work. In fact, as we develop technology (even "thinking" technology) to relieve us of some of our drudgery, we may well be heading back to less. But that's a guess, because it's not clear how people who don't have to do anything get to "earn a living."
The future is unreadable, is what I mean to say.