Minimum Wage to increase

The Fair Work Commission (“FWC”) has today handed down its Annual Wage Review decision.

Minimum wage rates in Modern Awards will see a 5.75 per cent increase effective from 1 July 2023.

In relation to the National Minimum Wage (which applies to any workers not covered by Modern Awards), the FWC has taken two steps.

Step 1:  The FWC has aligned the National Minimum Wage with the C13 classification wage rate in Modern Awards (which is the lowest classification rate applicable to ongoing employment in most Modern Awards), as opposed to the previous alignment to the C14 classification wage rate.

Step 2: The FWC have further increased the rate of the National Minimum Wage by 5.75 per cent.  These adjustments will also take effect on 1 July 2023.

This means that the FWC has lifted the National Minimum Wage by $70.20 per week.  The new National Minimum Wage will be $882.80 per week (or $23.23 per hour).

The FWC has also noted that it will soon commence a research project to identify occupations and industries in which there is potential gender pay inequity and gender undervaluation of work and qualifications.  Once completed, this will underpin the consideration and determination of the identified issues. The finalisation of these matters may, depending upon the timing, occur as part of or in association with the 2023-24 Annual Wage Review.

If you are unsure how the wage increases may affect your business, please contact our experienced employment and industrial relations team.

You can read the announcement of the decision (which gives a summary of the FWC’s reasoning behind the amount of the increase) here: https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/resources/annual-wage-review-2022-23-decision-announcement.pdf