The FWC FY 19-20 Annual wage review is out

June 19, 2020 by hrsafe in NEWS, NEWS AND EVENTS

The broad strokes are:

• On the balance of economic considerations (a legislated determining factor), an increase was confirmed at 1.75%.
• The NMW will be $753.80 per week, or $19.84 per hour. An increase of $13.00 per week, or 35 cents per hour.
• Various state Governments, Groups including the Catholics Bishops Association, Council of Social Services and Unions proposed increases of up to 4% for the Minimum Wage.
• Unsurprisingly, AIGroup and ACCI along with several others proposed a zero increase to the NMW and awards.
• This figure roughly aligns with anticipated inflation rates from the RBA from December 2019 to June 2022 (1.8% to 1.5%).
• ACCI and AIGroup both attempted to have the increase delayed until 2021.
• The increase will be staggered across three groups. Group One – 01 July 2020, Group Two – 01 November 2020, Group Three – 01 February 2020. These groups were chosen based on the impact of the Pandemic on their industries.

The full FWC Annual 2020 wage review can be found here: https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/wage-reviews/2019-20/decisions/2020fwcfb3500.pdf

(for information on awards by groups start reading from page 37)

The FWC noted that if the NMW was not increased, this would significantly disadvantage those on minimum wage who would not be able to keep up with inflation, impact the Gender Pay Gap, as more women than men are on minimum wage, and not reflect the current or future growth of the economy, or profits declared in various sectors, despite drought, bushfires and COVID19.

Factors in the Assessment justifying an increase to the NMW and awards.

• Although GDP is expected to fall, a strong rebound is predicted.
• Various aspects of the economy still showed growth, including profit share income and labour productivity, although not as high as this time last year.
• Unemployment rate is higher than this time last year (7.1 % compared to 5.1 % this time last year).
• Due to drought, bushfires and COVID19, inflation significantly increased.
• Recession is expected to be reflected in June 2020 ABS quarterly stats (when released).
• GDP output fell by 0.3 % in March quarter, but increased to 1.4% later in the year.