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Labour market bifurcation is the mechanism worth tracking as the debate over artificial intelligence and a so-called "permanent underclass" widens. San Francisco's version of that claim is hyperbolic.
The structural dynamic behind the concern is real: automation hollowing out the middle of the wage distribution while demand holds at both ends.
What bifurcation means in practice The displacement pressure concentrates on workers in the middle of the skill distribution.
Automation economics sorts tasks by replaceability: routine cognitive and manual work, the bulk of middle-income employment, sits most within reach of current AI systems.
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