Indian student Vijay is glad to know that the Fair Work Commission has decided on a 3 per cent increase in the national minimum wage from 1 July.
'This is good. Every dollar counts,' said Vijay.
From July 1st, the national minimum wage will rise by 3 per cent to $740.80 a week or $19.49 per hour. It is $719.20 at present.
The increase means Vijay's hourly pay increase by 57 cents.
'We are allowed to work for 20 hours a week. The increase amounts to some $11 weekly. I do not know how happy should I be,' said Vijay, a film student at Macquarie University, Sydney.
The increase this year is lesser than the last year.
The Workers union had demanded a 6 per cent rise or about $43 a week.
The decision will affect 2.2 million workers directly.
"We have decided to award a lower increase this year than that awarded last year," commission president Justice Iain Ross said.
"We are satisfied that the level of increase we have decided upon will not lead to any adverse inflationary outcome and nor will it have any measurable negative impact on employment," Justice Ross said.
