Warehouse Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level
Minimum rates under the Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2020 (MA000084), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
The short answer
A Storeworker grade 1 on commencement is paid $27.08 an hour or $1,029.10 a week full-time. A casual at the same classification is paid $33.85 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. On that full-time wage, take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy is $45,869 a year, or $1,764 a fortnight.
MA000084 rates by classification.
All 12 classifications, with the casual rate the award publishes and what each one actually takes home after tax.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storeworker grade 1—on commencement | $1,029.10 | $27.08 | $33.85 | $45,869 |
| Storeworker grade 1—after 3 months | $1,041.60 | $27.41 | $34.26 | $46,311 |
| Storeworker grade 1—after 12 months | $1,053.50 | $27.72 | $34.65 | $46,732 |
| Storeworker grade 2 | $1,062.80 | $27.97 | $34.96 | $47,061 |
| Storeworker grade 3 | $1,093.10 | $28.77 | $35.96 | $48,132 |
| Storeworker grade 4 | $1,125.30 | $29.61 | $37.01 | $49,271 |
| Wholesale employee level 1—on commencement | $1,029.10 | $27.08 | $33.85 | $45,869 |
| Wholesale employee level 1—after 3 months | $1,041.60 | $27.41 | $34.26 | $46,311 |
| Wholesale employee level 1—after 12 months | $1,053.50 | $27.72 | $34.65 | $46,732 |
| Wholesale employee level 2 | $1,062.80 | $27.97 | $34.96 | $47,061 |
| Wholesale employee level 3 | $1,093.10 | $28.77 | $35.96 | $48,132 |
| Wholesale employee level 4 | $1,125.30 | $29.61 | $37.01 | $49,271 |
Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, calculated with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
MA000084 junior rates by age.
The award pays a junior employee a percentage of the adult rate. The percentages below are read from the award text, and the dollar figures are worked out from the adult weekly rate. Each table says exactly how, and which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints.
Clause 15.2: Junior rates
What each percentage is a percentage of, in the words of the table heading: “Percentage of weekly rate for Storeworker grade 1 or Wholesale employee level 1”
| Age | Percentage of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 16 years of age | 40% |
| 16 years of age | 50% |
| 17 years of age | 60% |
| 18 years of age | 70% |
| 19 years of age and over | Adult rate |
| Classification | Under 1640% | 1650% | 1760% | 1870% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storeworker grade 1, on commencement | $10.83$411.64 a week | $13.54$514.55 a week | $16.25$617.46 a week | $18.96$720.37 a week |
| Storeworker grade 1, after 3 months | $10.96$416.64 a week | $13.71$520.80 a week | $16.45$624.96 a week | $19.19$729.12 a week |
| Storeworker grade 1, after 12 months | $11.09$421.40 a week | $13.86$526.75 a week | $16.63$632.10 a week | $19.41$737.45 a week |
| Wholesale employee level 1, on commencement | $10.83$411.64 a week | $13.54$514.55 a week | $16.25$617.46 a week | $18.96$720.37 a week |
| Wholesale employee level 1, after 3 months | $10.96$416.64 a week | $13.71$520.80 a week | $16.45$624.96 a week | $19.19$729.12 a week |
| Wholesale employee level 1, after 12 months | $11.09$421.40 a week | $13.86$526.75 a week | $16.63$632.10 a week | $19.41$737.45 a week |
Each cell is the hourly rate, with the full-time weekly rate beneath it. The award prints the percentages. The dollar figures are worked out from them, as follows.
Each weekly figure is the adult weekly rate multiplied by the percentage, rounded to the nearest cent with an exact half cent rounding up. Each hourly figure is that weekly figure divided by the 38 ordinary hours in a full-time week, rounded to the nearest cent.
The award prints no junior dollar figures to check these against. Fair Work’s pay guide may round differently, so a figure here can differ from it by a cent.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2020 (MA000084)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799364, PR799519
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-09
- Cross-checked
- 12 of 12 rates against Schedule B
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and then checked a second time against Schedule B of the same award, which republishes the hourly rates. Casual rates are the award’s own published figures rather than our multiplication, because the award rounds differently from a calculator. The junior percentages were read from the award in the same way. The junior dollar figures are worked out from them, and each junior table says which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints. Nothing here is copied from another pay site.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Shift loadings
Early morning, afternoon and night shifts are paid above the base rate.
Penalty rates
Saturday, Sunday, public holiday and overtime work is paid above the base rate.
Junior casual and penalty rates
The junior figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimums. Casual loading, weekend, public holiday and overtime rates for juniors are not worked out here.
Allowances
First aid, cold temperatures, meal and damaged effects allowances are published separately.
Warehouse Award Pay Rates questions, answered.
What award is a warehouse worker under?
Usually the Storage Services and Wholesale Award 2020 (MA000084), which is what the phrase warehouse award normally means. Fair Work describes it as covering the handling and storing of goods in bulk, including storeworkers and forklift operators. Warehouse work attached to another industry can fall under that industry's award instead, so confirm coverage before you rely on a figure below. Distribution centre work in the road transport industry, for instance, can fall under the Road Transport and Distribution Award, whose distribution facility scale is on Road Transport Award Pay Rates. That award's transport worker grades carry forklift work as well as driving, and Truck Driver Pay Rates works through them grade by grade. A manufacturer's own stores and warehouse staff generally sit under the Manufacturing Award instead, whose definitions put stores and warehousing inside its engineering/manufacturing field, set out on Manufacturing Award Pay Rates.
What are the warehouse award rates for 2026 in Australia?
Minimum rates run from $27.08 an hour, $1,029.10 a week for a full-time employee, up to $29.61 an hour at storeworker grade 4, from 1 July 2026. The award carries a matching wholesale employee scale, and both are published in the table above.
What is the hourly rate for a warehouse worker?
A storeworker grade 1 is paid $27.08 an hour on commencement, $27.41 after 3 months and $27.72 after 12 months. A casual on commencement is paid $33.85 an hour, which includes the 25% casual loading. Grade 4, the top of the scale, is $29.61 an hour.
Who gets a pay rise under the Storage Services award in July 2026?
Anyone whose pay sits on an award minimum or on the National Minimum Wage. The Fair Work Commission reviews both in its Annual Wage Review, and for the classifications on this page the result applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. An employee already paid above the new minimum has no automatic entitlement to the rise, unless a contract or enterprise agreement gives one. What the 2026 review decided, including the larger rise at the two lowest classification rates in the award system, is set out on Minimum Wage Increase 2026.
Are storeworker and wholesale employee rates the same?
Read both tables above rather than assume. At present the two scales carry the same money at each matching step: a storeworker grade 1 on commencement is paid $1,029.10 a week and a wholesale employee level 1 on commencement $1,029.10, while at the top of each scale grade 4 is $1,125.30 against level 4 at $1,125.30. Which scale covers you is a classification question, not a pay question.
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