The Fair Work Commission has taken a new decision, after which Australia’s minimum and award wages will increase by 3.75 percent. The Fair Work Commission has announced that Australia’s minimum wage and award wages will increase by 3.75 percent from July 1. This decision will increase the national minimum wage to $24.10 per hour and $915.91 per week, based on a full-time, 38-hour work week. This is an increase of about $33 per week on the existing minimum wage, and affects about 2.6 million workers – equivalent to 20.7 percent of the national workforce. Overall, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) estimates that the increase in the minimum and award wages will affect “about a quarter of all Australian employees”. The commission said, “The 3.75 percent increase we have set is broadly in line with forecast wage growth in the economy in 2024 and will make only a modest contribution to the total amount of wage increases in 2024.” “We therefore consider this increase is consistent with the forecast for the inflation rate to return to below 3 per cent in 2025.” The FWC said the increase in the minimum and award wage would have a “limited” impact on the broader economy, noting that employees relying on modern award minimum wage rates were “quite different” from the overall Australian workforce. “They mostly work part-time hours, are predominantly female, and about half are casual workers. They are also more likely to be paid less,” the commission said. In delivering its decision, the FWC said living standards, higher living costs and workforce participation were key considerations in determining the increase in the minimum and award wage. “In determining the level of this increase, a primary consideration has been the cost-of-living pressures that modern-award-reliant employees, particularly those who are lower paid and live in lower income households, continue to experience, even though inflation is significantly lower than at the time of last year’s review,” the commission said. The FWC noted that the modern award minimum wage remained lower in real terms than it was five years ago.
