Anthony Albanese demands a wage boost for more than 2.6million Australian workers

Australia’s lowest-paid workers have the Albanese government’s backing for a wage boost that will stop rising living costs from eating into their pay packets.

The government is expected to flesh out its case for the lowest-paid workers in a submission to the industrial umpire’s yearly update to the minimum wage on Friday.

The Peak Union Group from ACTU have pushed for a 7 per cent increase to minimum and award wages, about $56 more per week, to match inflation rates that were last recorded at 6.8 per cent in February. 

However, the opposition and business groups have urged for more moderate increases at the risk of further driving inflation higher and for longer. 

The current minimum wage in Australia is $21.38 per hour, or $812.60 for a 38-hour week. 

Last year, Labor supported the case for a lift in the minimum wage roughly in line with inflation, which at that point had already started to track upwards sharply.

The Fair Work Commission ultimately landed on a 5.2 per cent pay increase, bolstering low-wage workers’ pay by $40 a week.

The government’s submission will not include a specific figure but will recommend the ‘real wages of Australia’s low-paid workers do not go backwards’.

Source of data and images: dailymail