Markets live updates: Australia's minimum wage increases by 4.75 per cent for millions of workers   :)


June 2 2026
ABC News

Millions of workers will get the pay rise, after Fair Work raised modern award wages above the rate of inflation.


Australia's minimum wage will increase by 5.97%, and minimum award workers will get a 4.75% pay boost, in the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) annual wage review.

The new national minimum wage will be $26.44 per hour (up from $24.95), and $1,004.90 per week (up from $948), based on a full-time 38-hour week.

The pay increase will begin from July 1.   :)

The pay increase in affect millions of low-paid workers. While the national minimum wage covers a very small proportion of the workforce, roughly 20% of all employees in Australia are paid at a minimum award rate.

According to the FWC, because of the part-time and low-paid characteristics of the modern award-reliant workforce, the wages paid to them constitute only about 11.2% of the national 'wage bill'.

Minimum wage still won’t pay the rent   :(
2026-06-02
greens.org.au
The Fair Work Commission’s decision today to increase the modern award wage rate by 4.75% from 1 July 2026, still won’t pay the rent.

Since Labor came into power, real wages have decreased by 1%, and remain at the same real value as they were 15 years ago. Meanwhile, the RBA forecasts the rate of inflation for the year to June 2026 will reach 4.8%.

The Greens say this decision will further erode real wages for some of our lowest paid workers, leaving working Australians behind while billionaires increase in number and wealth.

Lines attributable to Greens spokesperson for finance, employment and workplace relations Senator Barbara Pocock:

“The Fair Work Commission’s decision today amounts to a real wage cut for millions of Australians. Even with this 4.75% increase in the minimum wage, low-paid workers still face an uphill battle as wages have failed to keep up with inflation.

“With inflation expected to rise to 4.8%, the Fair Work Commission has decided to erode the wages of some of the lowest paid workers.

“Under Labor, we’re seeing interest rates rise, real wages fall and a tax system that hits workers harder than billionaires.

“Nearly 3 million low-paid workers in Australia are playing catch up, facing rising grocery prices in a cost of living crisis, and rents increasing at well above inflation.

“Since Labor came into power, real wages have decreased by 1% while rents have increased by more than 22%. How on earth can renters keep a roof over their head?

“When national rents have risen 2.5 times faster than wages over the past five years, working households fall further behind through no fault of their own.

“Working Australians have had enough. They’re fed up with seeing the big banks and the billionaires profit from an out of control housing crisis, while wages aren’t keeping up and workers are going backwards.”

Think I will put a vote in for the Australian greens, at the next election.  They seem to get things right.   :(

whiteknight wrote on Jun 2^nd, 2026 at 5:35pm:

Think I will put a vote in for the Australian greens, at the next election.  They seem to get things right.   :(

But the Greens do a lot of homo stuff.   :-[

Saw today that the pay rise will bump many into a higher tax bracket.

What a racket.  ::)

whiteknight wrote on Jun 2^nd, 2026 at 5:35pm:

Think I will put a vote in for the Australian greens, at the next election.  They seem to get things right.   :(

They get far more wrong than they do right. You couldn't pay me to vote Greens.

**flings a dead fish on the floor** ......

Just an aside here - in AUSTRALIA – read it and weep and struggle to find some lie to cover it over again – wage gap my arse:-

Men's AWE = $2228.30 (ABS Feb 2026)

Men's hours worked per week = 38.5

Women's AWE = 1957.45

Women's hours worked per week – 31.7

Simple calculations:-

Men's average HOURLY earnings = 2228.30/38.5

=  $57.88

Women's Average HOURLY earnings = 1957.45/31.7

=  $61.75

Lotta rich people out there to make up that kind of average of wage and salary earners...

Just an aside again - women are now paid on average roughly 6.7% MORE per hour than men.  Wage gap, my arse.

Prove me wrong.........