The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin was written in 1892 and argued then that we labour far more than is actually necessary. Lots of work is work for the sake of work, not necessarily for the necessity of life and society.
Think now on how much technological improvement there has been since then. The industrial revolution continued, flight, computers and automation, even the factory line system didn't take off until Ford in the early 1900s.
We have so many machines, computers, and processes that never existed a hundred years ago.
The point isn't that we have no need for work, the point is we don't need to work anywhere near as much as we do.
A modern book that argues something similar is Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Bread
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-the-conquest-of-bread
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-bullshit-jobs