It was more than that. It was opportunity for advancement from the previous millennium or more of stasis. You could save up and advance, even if it was small. On a farm each generation had less farmland to farm (let's say you have 100 acres, and you have 4 heirs each with now 25 and so on... but let's say two because death and also pursuit of something else, so 50, but keep on doing that every generation)
Yes, it's overstated but never the less until then (ind revolution), life was very agricultural (that did not change appreciably) and thus centered around land (ownership and control). One cannot make more land. As the population grows there was less land per person to develop, maintain and extract sustenance and growth from, so to the factory it was.
Most importantly, life on a farm did not improve much, metal instruments did replace more rudimentary farm implements. There were additional advances here and there such as rotating crops, better ploughs drawn by oxen --never the less, you'd follow the cows typically barefoot and you'd suffer from any adverse weather event, too early, too late, a frost, no lifting of the rains, etc. One's fortune was at the whims of the weather and the pace was unrelenting. In the Winter it was time for repairs and household chores that waited a year.
A number of my great grandparents homesteaded in Michigan in the late 1800s. They didn't make more land exactly, but they converted land to agriculture.
The mechanization of much farming preceded that, as various horse and steam powered machinery was developed to harvest grains.
In an agricultural society land is everything. As you go down through generations the land is split into smaller plots for the heirs. Some had no option but go into the clergy, or alternate occupation. The industrial revolution opened the doors to lots of folk who otherwise would be completely destitute. Back in those days a merchant "afford" a houseboy or housemaid because people were really poor. The factory, though demanding, boring and dangerous by today's standards was a better alternative to many.
