Momentum is growing ahead of the federal election for the minimum wage to be replaced. Here's what it would mean for Australia’s lowest paid workers.
Australia’s wage stagnation has put the concept of a living wage firmly on the political agenda.
The Fair Work Commission’s annual review of the minimum wage has prompted calls for the nation’s 2.2 million lowest-paid workers to be given a hefty pay rise in line with a living wage.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sets the relative poverty line at 60 per cent of the national median income.
That’s the level used by unions to calculate a living wage they say will ensure workers are not living in poverty.
Applying that formula to the current minimum wage in Australia of $18.93 an hour, or 54 per cent of the national median salary, would deliver a windfall to the lowest paid.
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