Minimum Wages Rose 4.75% From 1 July 2026
The Annual Wage Review 2026 lifted minimum award wages by 4.75 per cent and set the National Minimum Wage at $1,004.90 a week. At the bottom of the award system the increase was larger than that, because the Commission also began phasing out the lowest classification rung. This page sets the decision against the classification rates we publish, so you can see which of them it produced.
Published 11 September 2026 by Wage Calculator. Every figure below is traced to the government page that announced it, with that page’s own date.
The short answer
From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026, the National Minimum Wage is $1,004.90 a week or $26.44 an hour, and minimum award wages increase 4.75 per cent.
The Fair Work Ombudsman attaches two conditions to that percentage. The lowest rate in any award that applies to ongoing employment must be at least $1,004.90 a week or $26.44 an hour, and any entry-level rate that applies to the first 6 months or less of employment must be at least $978.10 a week or $25.74 an hour.
Those two conditions are why 4.75 per cent is not the number at the bottom of the scale. The section below works out what it actually was.
The day it reached your pay was probably not 1 July.
A wage review outcome applies from the first full pay period starting on or after the operative date. A pay period already running on 1 July finishes on the old rates, so for most weekly and fortnightly cycles the new rates began later in the month. The Fair Work Ombudsman works this through on its own page with a hair salon.
A Monday to Sunday weekly cycle
1 July 2026 was a Wednesday, so it fell mid cycle. The new rates started on the next cycle, which began on Monday 6 July 2026.
A cycle starting on Wednesday
A weekly pay period that started on Wednesday 1 July 2026 was already a full pay period beginning on the operative date, so the new rates applied to it from the day.
This is why a rate quoted with only a financial year attached is not usable. Backpay, if an employer got the changeover wrong, runs from that first full pay period, not from 1 July.
The 4.75 per cent headline is not what the lowest classifications got.
This is the part of the decision that the announcement page does not spell out. The Commission increased award minimum rates by 4.75 per cent, but it also made a structural adjustment to the two lowest rungs of the classification structure that most awards are built on. In its own words, it decided “to phase out classifications paid at the C13 level and to make the next wage level up, the C12 level, the lowest wage rate for ongoing employment”, in three stages, of which this review is the first.
The result is that the two floors moved further than the headline. The before column is the Commission’s own statement of those rates as at 2 June 2026. The after column is read from the Manufacturing Award (MA000010) text, which is the award that names these classifications outright. The percentage column is our arithmetic on the two published figures, not a figure either source prints.
| Classification rate | Weekly, 2 June 2026 | Weekly, 1 July 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| C14Entry level, first 6 months or less | $922.70 | $978.10 | 6.00% |
| C13Lowest rate for ongoing employment, being phased out | $948.00 | $1,004.90 | 6.00% |
| C12The level that becomes the ongoing floor | $982.40 | $1,029.10 | 4.75% |
The headline holds where it should
C12 moved 4.75%, which is the headline figure of 4.75% to the cent. That is the independent check: we read the after figure from the award text, the Commission published the before figure, and they agree.
And it breaks where the Commission intervened
C13 and C14 each moved 6.00%, not 4.75%. The gap between the ongoing floor and C12 narrowed from $34.40 a week to $24.20 a week, and the Commission has said it will close in three stages.
Which awards we publish sit exactly on the two new floors.
A floor is only interesting if you can find yourself on it. Of the 19 awards read from their own text for this site, 7 carry a classification priced at exactly one of the two figures the review set. The rows below are matched from the award files at build time by comparing both the weekly and the hourly figure, so nothing here is a rate typed in by hand.
| Award | At $25.74, entry level | At $26.44, ongoing floor |
|---|---|---|
| Children's Services Award Pay RatesMA000120 | No classification at this figure | Level 1.1 |
| Clubs Award Pay RatesMA000058 | Introductory | Level 1 |
| Fitness Award Pay RatesMA000094 | Level 1 | Level 2 |
| Gardening and Landscaping Award Pay RatesMA000101 | Introductory Level | Level 1 |
| Hospitality Award Pay RatesMA000009 | Introductory level | Level 1 |
| Manufacturing Award Pay RatesMA000010 | C14 / V1 | C13 / V2 |
| Restaurant Award Pay RatesMA000119 | Introductory Level | Level 1 |
The clearest single example is the Fitness Award Pay Rates. Its Level 1 is $25.74 an hour and $978.10 a week, which is the entry-level floor the review set, to the cent. The Manufacturing Award is the other end of the same point: it prints the classifications as C14 / V1 and C13 / V2, so the C14 and C13 rates the decision discusses are visible in the rate table itself rather than only in the reasons.
What this table does not tell you
That a classification is priced at the entry-level figure does not by itself make it an entry-level classification limited to six months. Which classification applies to you, and for how long, is set by the award’s own classification definitions. This page matches figures; the award page for your industry carries the classification descriptions. The one thing the match does prove is that the floor the review set is the floor these awards are actually sitting on.
What else the review changed.
Three of the other changes announced on the same page have their own pages here, because this site holds the figures behind them.
- Payday Super
Employers must now pay superannuation at the same time as wages rather than quarterly. What changed, when it started, and what it means for your pay.
- High Income Threshold 2026-27
From 1 July 2026 the high income threshold is $190,100 and the unfair dismissal compensation cap is $95,050. What the threshold does to award coverage.
- Childcare and Pharmacy Award Rises
The Children's Services and Pharmacy awards changed on 30 June 2026 and again on 1 July 2026, from the gender undervaluation review and the wage review.
The rest of the list moved things this site holds no verified data for, so they are the Fair Work Ombudsman’s figures rather than ours:
- Unpaid flexible parental leave increases to up to 130 days for a child born or placed for adoption on or after 1 July 2026.
- Government funded Parental Leave Pay increases to 130 days from 120 days.
- National Training Wage increases for trainees take effect on the same date as award minimum wage increases.
Each is stated as it appears on the Annual Wage Review 2026 page, which gave its own last updated date as 2026-07-01 when it was retrieved on 2026-09-11. There is no page here claiming to be the authority on them, and no figure of ours restating them.
Where to find your own new rate.
The increase is only useful as the figure for your classification. Every award page here carries the full classification table with the pay period it takes effect from, read from the award text itself.
- Award Pay Rates
Modern award minimum pay rates by industry, how classification levels and pay points work, and how casual loading and penalty rates change what you earn.
- Pay Rates by Occupation
What each Australian occupation is paid under its modern award, with the minimum hourly rate, the casual rate and take-home pay after tax.
- Casual Loading
Casual loading is 25 per cent in every award we publish. What differs is whether the award prints the casual rate or leaves it to be derived.
- Penalty Rates
What penalty rates are, and the Saturday, Sunday and public holiday percentages three awards actually publish, read from the award text.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- National Minimum Wage, weekly
- $1,004.90
- National Minimum Wage, hourly
- $26.44
- Headline award increase
- 4.75%
- Increase at the lowest ongoing rate
- 6.00%
- Increase at the entry-level rate
- 6.00%
- Commission decision
- [2026] FWCFB 3500, 2 June 2026
- Awards checked against this
- 19
- Award texts retrieved
- 6 September 2026 to 9 September 2026
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Minimum wages increase from 1 July 2026The page gave its own last updated date as 2026-07-01. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- Fair Work Commission, Annual Wage Review 2026 decision, [2026] FWCFB 3500 (PDF)The page gave its own last updated date as 2026-06-02. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- Fair Work award library, the text of all 19 awards published hereThe page gave its own last updated date as 1 July 2026. Retrieved 2026-09-06 to 2026-09-09.
Nothing on this page is copied from another pay site, and no figure here was taken from a search result summary. How every rate on this site is sourced and checked is set out on the Methodology page.
Minimum Wage Increase 2026 questions, answered.
What is the National Minimum Wage from 1 July 2026?
$1,004.90 a week, or $26.44 an hour, for an employee no award and no enterprise agreement covers. The Fair Work Ombudsman publishes both figures. It applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026, not from 1 July itself, so the day it reaches your pay depends on when your own pay cycle starts.
Did every award rate go up by 4.75 per cent?
No, and this is the part the headline hides. The Commission increased modern award minimum rates by 4.75 per cent, but it also made a structural adjustment to the two lowest classifications in the award system. The C13 rate, which was the lowest rate for ongoing employment, went from $948.00 a week as at 2 June 2026 to $1,004.90, a rise of 6.00%. The C14 entry-level rate went from $922.70 to $978.10, also 6.00%. Reading 4.75 per cent onto a bottom-rung classification understates it.
When did the 2026 increase actually reach my pay?
From the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. The Fair Work Ombudsman works it through with a hair salon on a weekly Monday to Sunday cycle: 1 July 2026 was a Wednesday, so it fell mid cycle, and the new rates began on Monday 6 July 2026. A pay period that happened to start on Wednesday 1 July 2026 got the new rates on the day. Backpay is owed from that first full period, not from 1 July.
What is the $978.10 a week entry-level rate?
It is a floor that only applies to a rate for the first six months of employment or less. The Fair Work Ombudsman states it as at least $978.10 a week or $25.74 an hour for an entry-level rate that applies to the first 6 months or less of employment, against at least $1,004.90 a week or $26.44 an hour for the lowest rate in any award that applies to ongoing employment. Whether your own classification is an entry-level one for six months or an ongoing one is a question for your award's classification definitions, which is on your award page rather than here.
Does the increase apply if I am on an enterprise agreement?
It may. The Fair Work Ombudsman states that the base pay rate in an enterprise agreement cannot be less than the base pay rate in the relevant award, so lifting the award minimum can lift what the agreement must pay. Whether it changes your own rate depends on where your agreement rate already sits relative to the new award minimum.
Is the increase the same in every state and territory?
Yes. The National Minimum Wage order and modern awards are made by the Fair Work Commission under the Fair Work Act 2009, which is a national scheme, so there is no separate New South Wales figure and no separate Victorian one. What can differ is which instrument covers you, because an employee paid under a state industrial instrument rather than a federal modern award reads that instrument instead.
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