Pay joy for workers

Minimum wage to go up $24.30 a week in ‘healthy economy’

AUSTRALIA’S lowest-paid workers are set to get a pay rise of $24.30 a week from July 1.

The Fair Work Commission yesterday handed down its annual ruling on the minimum wage, raising it 3.5 per cent to $719.20 a week, or $18.93 an hour. Unions had been calling for a $50 rise, while employers were arguing for a $13 a week increase for more than 2.3 million Australians.

President Justice Iain Ross said compared to this time last year, economic indicators now pointed more “unequivocally to a healthy national economy and labour market”.

“The circumstances are such that it is appropriate to provide a real wage increase to those employees who have their wages set by the national minimum wage or by a modern award,” he said in Sydney.

The panel decided against an increase as large as that proposed by the ACTU and the Australian Catholic Council for Employment Relations, believing it would have caused a substantial risk to employment for low-income earners.

“Such adverse effects will impact on those groups who are already marginalised in the labour market and on households vulnerable to poverty due to loss of employment or hours,” Justice Ross said.

The commission also decided to increase all modern award minimum wages by 3.5 per cent. The ruling will come into effect on July 1.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said it was the largest percentage increase the commission had awarded.

“It’s a good step forward … but it’s not enough,” she said.

Labor also welcomed the decision but the Australian Retailers Association labelled it “extremely concerning”.

“I suspect that what this will mean is that retailers will have to look at the numbers of hours or even the number of employees they are employing and reduce accordingly as the costs will not be sustainable,” executive director Russell Zimmerman said in Sydney.