[Astromancer]

One way to bring some painful unemployment into the setting, and with it desperate people vulnerable to cult exploitation, is robotic automation of vertical farming. If outdoor agriculture is hampered by climate change and blight, vertical agriculture would have no rivals and the rural population would be desperate and hungry. They'd be forced into the cities. The urban poor would look down on the refugees and, because the rural poor have been trained to sneer at the urban poor, this would be returned with interest.

There aren't that many people employed in agriculture now compared to the 1930s but looking at how the Okies were treated would give you tons of ideas.