The Fair Work Comission’s annual review of minimum wage and award agreements has resulted in a 3.5 per cent pay rise, resulting in a nice little boost for almost three million Australians.
The increase comes into effect from July 1st, with the minimum hourly rate rising from $24.10 to $24.94 per hour. Weekly pay for a full-time employee will rise to $948 per week, based on a 38-hour work week.
In Australia, inflation rates are currently sitting at 2.4 per cent annually. As a result, the 3.5 per cent is a welcome change. However, it is one per cent less than the increase put forward by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
While approximately 2.6 million Australians have their pay set by an award and are directly impacted by annual minimum wage determinations, the Fair Work Commission says award earners only make up 10.5 per cent of the workforce.
The Fair Work Comission added that the rise is to help people cope with the rising cost of living and that it was an important step to take now, before the interest rates rise higher.
“The principal decision which has guided our decision is the fact that, since July 2021, the real value of modern award wages … has declined by 4.5 percentage points relative to inflation,” said the Fair Work Commission panel on Tuesday.
“The result has been that living standards for employees dependent on modern award wages have been squeezed and the low paid have experienced greater difficulty in meeting their everyday needs.”
Although the ACTU wanted an extra per cent on the minimum wage figures, secretary Sally McManus has described the rise as a “great outcome”.
“It’s 1.1 per cent more than inflation, so it means that, finally, award wage workers in Australia — our lowest-paid workers — are getting ahead again,” she said, per the ABC.
“The Fair Work Commission accepted the arguments made by unions that it was time for low-wage workers, award workers, to start catching up for what was lost during the inflation spike.”
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