The Fair Work Commission has raised Australia’s minimum wage by 3.75 percent, increasing the hourly pay rate from $23.23 to $24.72.
About one in five Australian workers, or 2.6 million people, will be affected by the changes.
The new pay rates will kick in on July 1.
‘A primary consideration has been the cost-of-living pressures that modern award-reliant employees – particularly those who are low-paid and live in low-income households – continue to experience,’ the commission’s president Adam Hatcher said.
In the 12 months to the March 2024 quarter, prices rose slightly more than expected with the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing that the consumer price index had increased 3.6 per cent.
A substantial increase was handed out in 2023 – 5.75 per cent for awards and 8.6 per cent for the national minimum – with the commission basing its call on a combination of low unemployment, falling wages and high inflation.