Pay Rates by Occupation in Australia

A modern award is an industry or occupation-wide minimum made by the Fair Work Commission. It sets the lowest lawful rate for each classification in that industry, and it also fixes casual loading, penalty rates, overtime and allowances. Some allowances count for all purposes and are part of the rate itself, which is why the grade 5 rate on Electrician Wage is higher than the figure the award's rates clause prints. Awards are national instruments, so the same rate applies in every state and territory. The exception is an employer outside the national system, such as a Western Australian business that is not a constitutional corporation, which the Truck Driver Pay Rates page sets out.

Which award covers you follows the industry your employer operates in, and then your classification inside that award follows the work you actually do: the qualification it calls for, how much direction you work under, and whether you supervise anyone. Your job title has no legal weight in that decision. A sales assistant, a checkout operator and a shelf filler can all sit on the same level for that reason, as Retail Assistant Pay Rate shows. The award can differ for the same job as well. Kitchen Hand Pay Rate publishes a restaurant scale and a hotel scale side by side, Receptionist Pay Rate an office scale and a medical practice one, and Cleaner Pay Rate explains why a cleaner employed by a contractor and one employed by the business being cleaned can sit under different awards. An apprenticeship follows the employer in the same way: Apprentice Electrician Wages prices an electrical apprentice working for an electrical contractor, and one employed by a manufacturer or a mine can fall under a different award.A social worker is the same case across two awards, the SCHADS Award in a community organisation and the Health Professionals Award in a private hospital or practice, both set out on Social Worker Pay Rate.The same holds for a mechanic, who is under the Vehicle Repair Award in a workshop or dealership but may be under another award maintaining equipment for a mine or a manufacturer, as Mechanic Hourly Rate notes. A forklift driver is the plainest case: the same forklift job can sit under five different awards, depending on whether the employer is in transport, storage, retail, vehicle repair or manufacturing, as Forklift Driver Salary sets out.

Above the award sit two things that can raise the rate. An enterprise agreement, registered for a particular employer, displaces the award where it applies. An individual contract can pay more than the award but never less. Below the award is nothing: it is the floor. What the agreements at Woolworths, Coles and Kmart pay is on Pay Rates by Employer. In some jobs the agreement is the norm rather than the exception: most airport, government and event security work runs under one, as Security Guard Pay Rate notes.

Rates change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year, following the Annual Wage Review, and individual determinations can vary a rate part-way through a year. That is why every table on these pages carries an effective date and the determination it came from. The home care disability scale on Disability Support Worker Pay Rate is one such case, varied by a determination of its own part-way through the year. The changes this site covers, with the pay period each starts from and who it reaches, are listed on Pay Rate News.

Start from the award rather than the job title. Every award published on this site lists all of its classifications, so if you can identify your award you can usually find your own rate in it. The Award Pay Rates page lists the awards covered here and explains how classification levels and pay points work.

Some occupations have no useful award answer at all. Public sector teachers, police, paramedics and most public hospital nursing are covered by state enterprise agreements that differ in every state and are renegotiated on their own cycles. Publishing a single national figure for those roles would be inventing one, so this site does not. Nursing still has an award floor beneath those agreements. Enrolled Nurse Pay Rate publishes it for enrolled nurses, and Assistant in Nursing Pay Rate for assistants in nursing in private hospitals and nursing homes. Early childhood teachers in long day care and preschools do have a national award floor, set out on Teachers Award Pay Rates.