National Minimum Wage

The National Minimum Wage is the legal floor for what an adult employee in Australia's national workplace relations system can be paid for ordinary hours. It is set by an expert panel of the Fair Work Commission through the Annual Wage Review, and the new rate usually applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year.

How it works for shift teams

In practice, most people on a café, retail or care roster aren't paid the National Minimum Wage itself — they're covered by a modern award, and the award's minimum rate for their classification applies instead. The Annual Wage Review lifts award minimums at the same time, so the July change still reaches almost every shift business.

Award-covered staff are paid at least their award classification rate, which sits at or above the national floor.
Award-free staff must get at least the National Minimum Wage.
Juniors, apprentices and trainees have their own percentage scales, and casuals receive casual loading on top of the base rate.

Staying on the right side of it

Rates change every year, so the habit that matters is checking the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool each July and updating your pay rates, templates and any loaded arrangements before the first affected pay run. Underpayment is rarely deliberate in small teams — it's usually a rate that quietly went stale.

Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) — rates set by the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review; current figures via the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool.

Tommy keeps every shift's hours visible in one place, so when rates change in July you can see exactly who worked what and update pay details with confidence.

Related terms

Put a number on it: the free true shift cost calculator shows what a shift really costs once every premium and on-cost is applied.