Is the minimum wage increase a win for women?

Minimum wage earners will receive a 3.75 per cent pay rise. Is this a win for women?

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has announced a 3.75 per cent increase to Australia’s national minimum wage and minimum award wages, with no reports of further wage increases for workers in feminised industries.

The 3.75 per cent minimum wage increase will take effect from the first full pay period on or after July 1 2024. The changes, determined from the FWC’s Annual Wage Review, will mean full-time workers on minimum wage will now receive an extra $33.11 per week. This brings their weekly earnings to $915.90, or $24.10 per hour.

The change comes as the rate of inflation is on the decline; from the peak of 7.8 per cent in the December 2022 quarter, inflation is now sitting at 3.6 per cent, as of March 2024.

According to trade union peak body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), the minimum wage raise will affect around 2.6 million workers in Australia.

While ACTU Secretary Sally McManus is disappointed the FWC is not “acting immediately” to raise the wages of employees in feminised industries, she welcomed the FWC’s decision.

 

“Any day working people get a pay rise is a good day,” McManus said.

“This decision allows people to keep up with inflation and have a small real wage increase. If employers got their way, Australian workers would’ve seen a significant real wage cut while facing cost-of-living pressures.”

McManus said employees on minimum wages will also benefit from the Albanese government’s stage three tax cuts, which will take effect at the same time as the wage increase.

“When workers have more money to spend, it stimulates local businesses and drives economic growth,” McManus said.

“Today’s decision is a win for workers, their families, and the broader Australian economy.”

This year’s wage increase is lower than those from the previous two years (when the rate of inflation was higher) which was 5.75 per cent in 2023 and 4.6 per cent in 2022.

How will this impact women?

More than half (56.7 per cent) of national minimum wage reliant employees are women, while employees earning up to 10 per cent more than the NMW are more commonly male (54.8 per cent), according to data from the FWC in 2024.

Last month, the ACTU made a submission to the FWC’s Annual Wage Review, calling for a five per cent increase across all award wages in Australia, plus an additional four per cent increase in feminised industries. 

The trade union peak body argued a nine per cent increase to wages in feminised industries could shift the needle on achieving “systemic change” for women, and bring the nation one step closer to equal pay.

Industries such as early childhood education, health support services, veterinary care and disability home care – among many others – have historically been undervalued on the basis of gender, the ACTU said in its submission.

This has resulted in a significant and gendered gap in Australia for total remuneration, which currently sits at 21.7 per cent, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

In its announcement yesterday, the FWC did not respond to the ACTU’s call for higher wages for employees in feminised industries. However, the FWC said it would establish a program to address “the timely resolution of gender undervaluation issues arising in respect of certain modern awards”.

Last year, the FWC conducted a “gender equity research project” following the Annual Wage Review 2022-23. The findings from this project will be analysed by the FWC’s program, which will commence “shortly” and will be completed “by the time of next year’s Review”, the FWC said.

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