2011 Annual Award Review Decision

Annual Wage Review 2010-11 Decision

A Full Bench of Fair Work Australia has this morning handed down the Annual Wage Review Decision.

The key components of the decision are: 

• A uniform increase of 3.4% to all Award rates of pay. 
• The national minimum wage (which applies to Award/Agreement free employees) will be $589.30 per week. This amounts to an increase of $19.40 per week. 
• The above changes will become operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2011.
• In each annual wage review there is a requirement to review casual loadings in modern awards and to include a casual loading for Award/Agreement free employees. The Award casual loading of 25% remains unchanged however for Award/Agreement free employees the casual loading has increased from 21% to 22%. 

The Full Bench stated in its decision: 

“In the 12 months since the last review, Australia’s economy has continued to perform strongly despite the impact of the recent floods and Cyclone Yasi. Production should recover, creating stimulus for GDP growth in the June and September quarters. Earnings and employment continued to grow and, despite increases in headline inflation, underlying inflation is currently at an acceptable level, although forecast to gradually increase over the next two years. The forecasts for 2011–12 and 2012–13 suggest that Australia’s immediate overall outlook is positive, although not all sectors are doing equally well and there are some risks to the international economy.”

Copies of the Statement and the Decision are available on request from Hunter Employee Relations. 

Companies who are unsure whether they are meeting their Award and legislative requirements should contact us, and we will put you in touch with Hunter Employee Relations.

Michael Schmidt

Hunter Employee Relations