…We’ve used two nationally representative Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys of employees and employers – Characteristics of Employment and Employee Earnings and Hours – to find out whether employees are paid below the national minimum hourly wage in Australia, currently $21.38 an hour or $26.73 an hour for casuals.

We estimate that recent migrants – those who arrived in Australia within the past five years – are twice as likely to be underpaid as migrants who have been in Australia for at least 10 years, and those born here…

In 2022, 5% to 16% of employed recent migrants were paid less than the national minimum wage. Between 1% and 8.5% of recent migrants were paid at least $3 less than the hourly minimum…

Part of reason recent migrants are more likely to be underpaid is because they tend to work in industries where underpayment is more prevalent, such as hospitality and agriculture.

For example, temporary visa holders account for nearly 20% of workers in hospitality, the industry with the highest reported rate of underpayment.

Migrants also tend to be younger workers. Employees aged 20 to 29 are nearly six times more likely to be paid less than the national minimum wage than workers aged 30 to 39…