Australia’s Lowest-Paid Workers Set to Receive a Much-Needed Pay Boost
Hey everyone, I want to talk about something pretty significant that’s just come out of the Fair Work Commission — a 3.5% increase to the national minimum wage and award minimum wages, coming into effect on July 1, 2025. That means, if you're working full-time on the minimum wage, your pay will go up by about $32 a week, or around $1,670 more per year. Not exactly life-changing money on its own, but for a lot of Australians, it can definitely ease some of the weekly pressure.
This increase lifts the national minimum wage to $24.95 an hour, or $948 a week based on a 38-hour work week. What’s important to highlight here is that this isn't just about the very bottom wage — it's also about the roughly 20% of Australian workers who are paid under various industry award rates. These are workers who are disproportionately female, often part-time or casual, and commonly employed in industries like hospitality, retail, health care, and social services. For many of them, this decision is a real win after years of struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
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The Fair Work Commission made it clear that this decision was driven by the fact that, since 2021, real wages — that is, wages adjusted for inflation — have been falling. They've declined by 4.5 percentage points, which means workers earning under these award systems have effectively been going backwards. With inflation now stabilizing at 2.4%, the Commission decided it was time to start correcting that slide.
Of course, not everyone’s thrilled. Business groups had lobbied for a smaller increase — around 2.5 to 2.6% — arguing that anything more would burden employers, especially small businesses. And yeah, from their perspective, it’s a valid concern. Rising wages mean rising costs across the board, from superannuation contributions to payroll tax. But when you weigh that against the growing difficulty workers are having just making ends meet, it’s clear something had to give.
People like William Seamons, a security guard from regional Victoria, are among those who will see a real difference. For him, it's just over $1 more per hour. He said it best: “That’s a dollar for me, that’s a dollar for my family.” That simple sentence really puts it into perspective.
Unions, particularly the Australian Council of Trade Unions, pushed for a bigger rise — up to 4.5% — but they’re calling the 3.5% increase a good result. It’s higher than inflation, which means workers are finally getting a bit ahead, not just treading water.
So, while it’s not a perfect outcome — and experts like Professor John Buchanan even called it “predictable and disappointing” — it’s a step in the right direction. The Commission hasn’t made up for all the ground lost, but at least they’ve stopped falling further behind. For now, it’s a signal that the country’s lowest-paid workers are being heard again. Let’s hope that momentum continues.
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