The emergence of lower quality jobs as a result of automation threatens to divide Australian workers, a new report has warned.

Despite widespread anxiety about job destruction driven by technological change and globalisation, "a sharp decline in overall employment is unlikely", the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2019 employment outlook says.

The OECD has raised concerns that automation of jobs in Australia will put some workers at higher risk than others. Credit:Bloomberg

While 14 per cent of jobs are at a high risk of automation, new ones will emerge and employment is growing overall.

But the OECD report warns that transitions will not be easy and says that "certain groups of workers face greater risks than others".