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Scoop.it!
by David H. Autor and David Dorn
"Technology is creating jobs — but at the upper and lower ends of the spectrum. The outlook for the middle class may rely on “new artisans” who combine technical and interpersonal skills."
[Image is of a robotic assembly line in a General Motors plant in Lansing, Mich.] 
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This strikes me as an uncommonly astute and balanced appraisal of the economics of employment -- at least for much of the next generation (about 15-20 years). This takes us to the late 2020's or so.
The futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that machine intelligence will overtake human intelligence around the year 2045. He calls this moment the "Singularity". [See this article in Time magazine from 2011, if you'd like to delve into the subject: http://ti.me/15coDQ5]
So, from the late 2020's, that leaves a time span about equal to one more generation in which the middle class will see itself further shredded into high and low income segments. In other words, the grandchildren of the current millenial generation will likely face an employment landscape in which most will vie with machines for the jobs that will provide a comfortable, or better than comfortable, lifestyle. And those who don't prevail over the machine will likely be consigned to repetitive, low paying work.
Learn to program, or be programmed -- that may very well be the most fundamental economic/educational choice for the largest portion of the population in the developed world for the next half century -- starting now. Which path for your descendents?