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Aussi min. wage to 15.51/h .. Business calls minimum wage boost excessive

US demand suppression .. "According to the report, a single worker needs an income of $30,012 a year — or just above $14 an hour
— to cover basic expenses and save for retirement and emergencies. That is close to three times the 2010 national
poverty level of $10,830 for a single person, and nearly twice the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour."

Ben Schneiders
June 4, 2011

LOW-paid workers will receive a healthy pay boost with the workplace tribunal lifting most wages by between $20 and $25 a week - a decision that employers warned was excessive and a risk to jobs.

The Fair Work Australia [link added] ruling - which affects about 1.4 million workers who rely on awards - will lift their wages by 3.4 per cent, above inflation, which the ACTU said would allow workers to keep pace with the cost of living.

The decision will lift the minimum wage by $19.40 a week to $589.30 a week but for most of the workers affected, the increase will be about $20 to $25 a week. Some will receive an increase of more than $30 a week.

The minimum wage panel, headed by Fair Work president Justice Geoffrey Giudice, said the economic outlook was positive despite some risks.

''Employment is growing, unemployment is reducing and labour force participation remains high. In the circumstances a significant increase is appropriate which will improve the real value of award wages and assist the living standards of the low paid,'' the panel said.

In its first two years Fair Work has lifted the minimum wage by a total of 8.4 per cent to $15.51 an hour after the Howard government's Fair Pay Commission, in its final decision, froze wages in 2009.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson said the increase was excessive as it would mostly affect small businesses in the ''slow lane of the economy'' and he warned of its effect on jobs. He said it would add nearly $3 billion to the wage bills of small and medium-sized business.

Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans welcomed the decision, rejecting claims it would hurt jobs. He said employment had grown strongly despite last year's $26-a-week rise.

Employers also criticised the tribunal's break with recent tradition to lift award rates by 3.4 per cent instead of a flat dollar rise - - a bigger boost for those on higher paid awards such as some tradesman.

ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said the decision would allow workers to keep pace with the cost of living but still lagged behind wage rises other workers were receiving. He said the decision ''nullifies'' business claims that the health of the economy was ''so parlous we can't afford to pay our lowest paid a decent wage''.

Fair Work rejected an employer push for a freeze in wages in disaster-affected areas.

While it was ''conscious'' of the hardship that many businesses had faced due to natural disasters, it would be too hard ''to properly identify the employers affected and to whom the deferral should apply''.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/business-calls-minimum-wage-boost-excessive-20110603-1fl19.html

Australian recognizes the value of a modern awareness toward the importance of some
semblance of social equity, and the value of economic demand within the economy for more.