I don't think word processors are the right analogy.
In your example programmers are the monks or the press makers. At some point we're not needed any more (at least at the same scale) since word processors have already been built.
Printers are actually a great analogy. Printing presses became more sophisticated, but the printing business grew even further, guaranteeing lots of jobs in the printing industry. But at some point we reached peak demand, but presses continued requiring fewer and fewer workers. Today there are still people manning the presses of publishing houses and newspapers, but in 200 years of improvement we made the job a much smaller niche.
I worked in the print industry when I was younger. The increase in Posters / bill boards / custom cardboard standing displays actually created so many more print jobs. From phd book binding to custom business print jobs to online demand printing there are so many more things we are printing now.
There are more newspapers but they are all owned by larger players which means different types of machines and parts.
A better example might have been blacksmiths. Although the amount of people making cars is a larger group.
That's too narrow of a group. What about 3-D printing.
If you read the whole article it shows a path to new jobs...
Digital printing has become the fastest growing industry segment as printers embrace this technology. Most commercial printers now do some form of digital printing.
The 3D printing revolution implies a fusion of manufacturing and printing. This just underscores my point though: abstractions beget new abstractions. 3D printing is an entirely new category that is just starting to come into maturity and reach mass adoption. Who knows what the implications of that are? It could cause a boom in custom made, limited run products. It could help to end our reliance on China for mass production. It's not obvious to me it will lead to less jobs in manufacturing.
In your example programmers are the monks or the press makers. At some point we're not needed any more (at least at the same scale) since word processors have already been built.