About 3 million workers on minimum wage to receive 4.75% pay rise in Fair Work Commission ruling | Minimum wage
Nearly 3 million workers will receive a 4.75% pay rise after the Fair Work Commission announced its annual minimum wage decision, while around 100,000 of the country’s lowest-paid workers will receive a higher 6% increase.
Announcing the 4.75% ruling, which applies to about 2.8 million workers, on Tuesday morning, Justice Adam Hatcher, chairman of the Fair Work Commission, announced that the ongoing lowest wage rate for workers would increase from about $24.95 an hour to $26.44; This rate is an increase of just under 6%.
This year’s decision, effective July 1, is “particularly challenging” in the context of rising fuel prices adding to already existing inflationary pressures, Hatcher said.
He justified what he called “additional measures” to protect more vulnerable workers, noting that falling living standards hit the lowest paid the hardest.
He said the steep increase in the lowest wages reflected a “structural adjustment” in wage classifications.
Unions had demanded an increase in the minimum wage by 6% after last month’s budget predicted that inflation would reach 5% by June. The top employers’ association, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was calling for a 3.5% increase.
Cost of living has been the No. 1 concern for Australian households since inflation devastated the economy in the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns.
The previous minimum wage increase was 3.5% for 2025-26.
Inflation was at 4.2% in the year to April, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the budget also predicted that consumer price growth could rise above 5% if the conflict in the Middle East drags on and oil prices climb higher for longer.
With the Reserve Bank warning it may need to raise interest rates further to quell signs that an inflationary mindset is taking over the country, treasurer Jim Chalmers called for a “real” wage rise but added it must also be “sustainable”.
