In an essay in Time magazine, Fareed Zararia identified three classes of jobs. There are relatively unskilled jobs, jobs that require skilled or relatively well-educated labor that involve performing routine tasks, and jobs that are largely done by highly educated professionals. The middle class is largely made up of those who do relatively routine tasks and who earn incomes higher than unskilled workers but lower than professional workers. These middle-class workers work in manufacturing and in middle management and largely perform routine tasks. Business decision makers have found that they can often automate routine tasks, especially in manufacturing. In addition, as the labor forces of many emerging economies become more skilled and better educated, they can perform many of the tasks that U.S. middle-class workers can do for much lower wages. The result is that employment has been rapidly shrinking as skilled jobs in the United States that largely involve routine tasks are automated or outsourced to countries such as China and India. At the same time, employment in unskilled jobs and professional jobs has been increasing. 

Based on the observation that the number of unskilled jobs and professional jobs are increasing while the number of skilled, routine jobs are rapidly decreasing, what do you predict will happen to the degree of inequality in the distribution of income in the United States, other things held constant?