"About 3 million workers on minimum wage to receive 4.75% pay rise in Fair Work Commission ruling", 2 June 2026

About 100,000 of the country’s lowest paid employees will receive an above-inflation pay rise of 6% from July, as part of the Fair Work Commission’s annual review that also delivered a 4.75% boost to 2.7 million workers on award wages.

As the government and unions welcomed the decision, the peak employers’ association warned that “for some small businesses, this will be too much to bear”.

The FWC president, Adam Hatcher, said on Tuesday morning a “structural adjustment” to pay classifications would lift the rate for “the very lowest paid” from $24.95 to $26.44 an hour.

For someone working a 38-hour week, their weekly wage will climb from $948 to just shy of $1005. Last year’s minimum wage increase was 3.5%, while inflation was 4.2% in the year to April, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

Hatcher said this year’s decision had been “particularly challenging” in the context of a Middle East conflict that has triggered a global oil shock and a surge in fuel costs…

The drop in living standards in recent years had hit the lowest paid the hardest, justifying what Hatcher called “additional measures” to protect those at the bottom of the pay scale…

Roughly one in five employees will be affected by Tuesday’s decision, but they represent only about 11% of the national wages bill.

The RBA and Treasury have warned consumer price growth could push beyond 5% should the Middle East conflict extend and oil prices climb higher for longer…

David Alexander, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s head of policy, said the minimum and award wage increases “could be the tipping point for some businesses” if they are unable to pass on higher costs to their customers…