RISE OF THE MACHINES HAS WORKERS SWEATING

UP TO 3.8 million Australian workers are fearful their job may soon be terminated by a robot, a new survey has shown.

Airtasker's 2017 Future of Work study revealed that around 16 per cent of Australians believe their current role will be made redundant by a machine within the next five years, with 71 per cent of the population believing that robots will replace more jobs than they create.

Although the effect of digital disruption in the workforce is plain to see, Airtasker CEO Tim Fung says the idea of a technological judgment day for certain jobs isn't as likely as many might think.

"There seems to be some fear in Australia around machines replacing jobs, and this is the first study which quantifies it," says Fung.

"There's no doubt that digital disruption is displacing some jobs, but Airtasker's experience is that technology is absolutely creating new industries and jobs that we haven't seen before."

Human interaction remains the key ingredient to job retention, with around 40 per cent of survey respondents believing it's the biggest factor keeping robots at bay.

While respondents aged between 25 and 34 were the most concerned that their job will be made obsolete, they were also the most optimistic to trust that machines will create new industries and more jobs than they replace.

In light of these recent results, Fung believes educating people about the future of work should become a top priority.

"We think there's some work to be done to increase awareness of the new job opportunities and industries being created through technology platforms," says Fung.

"We should also be doing more to measure the new types of jobs being created as technology fundamentally changes the way we work."

Airtasker's 2017 Future of Work study, compiled by research firm PureProfile, sampled a cross section of 1003 Australians.