Gig work is growing, but growth is not the same as mobility – Why AI may not take your job, but could destroy the middle class dream forever

AI is reshaping labour markets into an hourglass. At the top, a smaller group becomes dramatically more productive and better paid. At the bottom, human-facing service jobs, delivery, care, hospitality, repair, remain. The middle, where education converted into stable formal income, shrinks. In advanced economies, that is a distribution problem. In India, it is a development crisis.