FAIR WORK RULING: MINIMUM WAGE TO RISE BY $21.60 A WEEK FOR 2.2M WORKERS

EWIN HANNAN
May 30, 2019

The Fair Work Commission has granted a $21.60 a week increase in the minimum wage that will flow through to 2.2 million workers from July 1.

The national minimum wage will rise by 3 per cent from $719.20 a week to $740.80 a week.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions had called for a 6 per cent, $43 a week rise while most business groups wanted a pay rise of about two per cent, limited to $13 to $14.40 a week in line with inflation rate.

The ACTU claim was significantly higher than the above-inflation $24.30-a-week rise granted by the commission last year.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged the commission to grant a maximum $12.95-a-week increase, describing it as an “appropriate and prudent level of increase”.

The ACTU said workers on the minimum wage desperately needed a pay rise to help them make ends meet as the cost of living continued to rise faster than wages.

Handing down its decision, commission president Iain Ross said the expert panel has decided to award a smaller rise than last year’s 3.5 per cent increase due to changes in the economic environment, particularly the recent fall in GDP growth and the drop in inflation.

The panel also took into account recent tax-transfer changes which have provided a benefit to low-paid households.

“We are satisfied that the level of increase we have decided upon will not lead to any adverse inflationary outcome and nor will it have any measurable negative impact on employment,’’ he said.

“However, such an increase will mean an improvement in real wages for those employees who are reliant on the national minimum wage and modern award minimum wages and an improvement in their living standards.’’

He said despite the recent fall in GDP growth, the Australian economy had performed moderately well and the relevant data indicated a strong labour market.

“Although business conditions have declined from the high levels recorded in the first half of 2018, they remain consistent with trend growth in the economy and the labour market has performed strongly,’’ he said.

The proportion of the working-age population that is in employment is at record levels, he said.

“The prevailing economic circumstances provide an opportunity to improve the relative living standards of the low paid, and to enable them to better meet their needs, by awarding a real increase in the national minimum wage and modern award minimum wages.”

He said relative living standards of minimum wage and award-reliant employees had improved over recent years, although some low-paid award-reliant employee households have household disposable incomes less than the poverty line.