Some 300,000 Australians benefit from wage hike
- Claire Lee
Some 300,000 Australians on minimum wage are now enjoying a pay hike that took effect on February 1, seeing an increase of their wages to A$21.78 (US$16.72).
This covers the country’s retail, fast food and warehouse workers, as well as those who work in aviation, arts and recreation, and tourism. Over the course of a week, this will see their pay increase by A$14.20 (US$10.90) for a full-time worker and A$738.40 (US$566.87) over a year.
The pay increase comes finally after the Fair Work Commission ruled to stagger the 1.75% minimum wage increase amid the pandemic, thus delaying the pay hike by seven months.
The Commission has said that the delay was due to the country entering its first recession in nearly 30 years.
Around 2.2 million Australians are on a minimum wage. Out of the total, healthcare and childcare workers and teachers received the pay increase last July, followed by construction and manufacturing workers in September.
READ: Australia sees unemployment fall to 6.6% in December
The SDA union, which represents retail, fast food and online retail workers, pointed out that the workers lost around A$426 (US$327) due to the postponed wage hike, a sum that could make a “vital difference” for workers on a minimum wage, according to Yahoo news.
