Upcoming fairwork annual wage review

Each year the Fairwork commission announces their annual wage review on the 1st of July.

This review sets the new pay rates for all Australian minimum wages. If you employ staff that earn a minimum wage, including apprentices, full-time, and casual staff, you need to be aware of your new obligations. It’s very likely that due to higher inflation and cost of living pressures, there will be an increase in the minimum wage, which will in turn flow on to all national award levels.

Details of previous Fairwork pay reviews can be found here, if you’d like to see what this sort of increase will look like.

How will this affect my business?

Last year’s increase was 5.75% This was considered an outlier due to lingering inflationary effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the government has requested a 4.1% increase. Assuming this is approved, the increase in the adult full-time minimum wage would be $36.19 per week, plus superannuation costs of 11% ($3.98), totalling $40.17 per week, or $2088.84 per year. If you had 4 such employees, your increase in gross wage costs would be around $10,000 per year for the 2024-2025 Financial Year.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Follow us for updates of the rate increases after the announcement, we’ll let you know what the new rates will be

• Calculate the increase in costs once the rates are published and allow for it in your cash flow planning for quarters 2, 3 and 4 of 2024-25.

• Be ready to increase pay rates, these usually come into effect on the 1st of September.

Are you in Melbourne and need a hand with your payroll or minimum wage requirements? Contact us today.

Disclaimer
This information is intended to be general in nature and is not personal financial advice. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information, you should consider the appropriateness of the information provided having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.