Fair Work Commission (FWC) says said the decision will help claw back the loss of real incomes over the past few years.

The new minimum wage from July 1 will be $24.95 an hour ($948 per week) up from $24.10 ($915.90) respectively – a weekly increase of about $32.

The increase is about one percentage point above inflation.

Workers who will benefit most are concentrated in labour-intensive and female-dominated industries such as hospitality, health and social assistance, and administrative services.

The Reserve Bank recently projected inflation will climb from 2.4 per cent in the year to March, to 3.1 per cent by mid-2026 following the end of government cost of living measures, such as energy subsidies.

The president of the FWC, Justice Adam Hatcher, said with inflation back under control, it was time to make up for that hit to living standards.

“We are satisfied that the level of wage increase we have determined is sustainable,” he said.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus credited union pressure for the real minimum wage rise.

“With unions delivering strong real wage growth in collective agreements and now with real award wages growing, working people have turned the corner and are seeing decent real wage growth for the first time in more than a decade,” she said.

The ABS Wage Price Index had previously shown that wages for workers on collective agreements rose by 3.8 per cent over the year to March 2025. Real wages grew by one per cent in that time.