Which Awards Get a 2026 Pay Rise? Full Breakdown

The Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review decision doesn't just set the National Minimum Wage. It sets minimum rates for every one of the 121 modern awards operating in Australia. When the Commission hands down "a 4% increase" in June, that percentage flows automatically into every award classification from Level 1 juniors to Level 9 senior professionals.

The mechanism is in s.285 of the Fair Work Act. The Expert Panel issues an Annual Wage Review decision that includes a "national minimum wage order" (setting the NMW) and a determination varying every modern award's minimum wage rates. Both take effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July.

In practice, the Commission typically applies a uniform percentage increase across all awards. So a 4% decision means:

• NMW goes up 4% (from $24.95/hr to about $25.95/hr)
• Every classification in the Retail Award goes up 4%
• Every classification in the Nurses Award goes up 4%
• Every classification in the Clerks Award goes up 4%
• And so on across all 121 awards

The exceptions are usually rare. In 2022, the Commission awarded 5.2% to the NMW and lower-paid awards but 4.6% to higher-paid awards (a split decision). In 2023, the Commission applied a uniform 5.75% across all awards. In 2024 and 2025, uniform increases again (3.75% and 3.75% respectively). For 2026, the expectation is another uniform increase.

The flow-on also touches junior rates, apprentice and trainee rates, and piecework rates. Those are expressed as percentages of the adult classification rate, so when the adult rate moves, they move proportionally. A 4% increase flows to everyone — including a 16-year-old Retail Level 1 junior on 45% of the adult rate.

Not all awards are created equal when it comes to how many workers are actually paid directly by them. Enterprise agreements cover a lot of workers in sectors like construction, banking and big retail, which means those awards are effectively the floor rather than the actual rate. Other sectors are heavily award-reliant, meaning the June decision is the rate most workers get.

Here are the 10 biggest award-reliant industries by worker count (from ABS and FWC estimates for 2025-26):

1. General Retail Industry Award 2020 — ~480,000 workers directly on award rates. Covers most shop-floor retail: supermarkets, clothing, electronics, pharmacies (partially), homewares.
2. Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 — ~420,000 workers. Covers pubs, hotels, clubs, catering, function centres.
3. Aged Care Award 2010 — ~280,000 workers. Covers residential and home care: PCWs, cooks, cleaners, admin in aged care.
4. Fast Food Industry Award 2010 — ~200,000 workers. Covers QSR outlets, fast-food crew and supervisors.
5. Nurses Award 2020 — ~150,000 workers. Covers RNs, ENs, AINs in the private sector (public nurses are on state EBAs).
6. Cleaning Services Award 2020 — ~140,000 workers. Commercial cleaning, contract cleaning.
7. Children's Services Award 2010 + ECE Award 2010 — ~130,000 workers. Early childhood educators, OSHC staff.
8. Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Award 2010 — ~200,000 workers. Disability support, community services, home care not covered by aged care.
9. Restaurant Industry Award 2020 — ~100,000 workers. Restaurants, cafés (some), bistros.
10. Security Services Industry Award 2020 — ~90,000 workers. Security guards, crowd control, alarm response.

A 4% uniform increase across these ten awards alone moves the nominal wages of approximately 2.2 million Australian workers. That's the scale of what's on the table in the June decision.

Check which award covers you via our award finder before assuming.

This one catches people out every year. The decision might be announced in early June, take effect on "1 July 2026," but depending on your pay cycle the money might not actually land until late July or even early August. Here's the mechanics.

The rule: Minimum wage increases apply from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2026. The key phrase is "first full pay period commencing on or after." Pay periods that are already in progress on 1 July keep the old rate for their remaining days.

Worked examples for 2026. 1 July 2026 falls on a Wednesday.

Weekly pay, Monday to Sunday cycle: The pay period starting Monday 29 June 2026 and running to Sunday 5 July is already in progress on 1 July. Old rate applies. New rate kicks in from Monday 6 July 2026. First pay day at new rate: usually Thursday 9 July or Friday 10 July.

Fortnightly pay, Monday to Sunday cycle starting 22 June: Period runs 22 June - 5 July, already in progress on 1 July. Old rate applies. New fortnight starts 6 July. First pay day at new rate: usually Thursday 16 July.

Fortnightly pay, Monday to Sunday cycle starting 29 June: Same story. Period runs 29 June - 12 July, already in progress on 1 July. Old rate applies for the whole fortnight. New rate starts 13 July. First pay day at new rate: usually Thursday 23 July.

Monthly pay, calendar month cycle: Period is 1-31 July, which commences on 1 July. This counts as "on or after 1 July" — so the new rate applies to the whole July month. First pay day at new rate: whatever your usual July pay day is (typically late July or first week of August).

Casual with irregular shifts: Each pay period is treated the same. If your shifts fall in a pay period that started before 1 July, they're paid at the old rate. Shifts from 6 July onwards (or whenever your next pay period starts) move to the new rate.

So yes, "1 July" is a bit of a fiction for most workers. For the majority, the actual first dollar at the new rate lands between 6 July and 23 July depending on pay cycle. Don't panic if your 1 July payslip shows the old rate.

The difference between "what my award says I should get" and "what my boss actually pays me" is one of the most common underpayment patterns in Australia. Getting your award and classification right is the first step to knowing whether you're being ripped off.

Step 1: Find your modern award. Ways to check:

• Use our award finder — plug in your job and industry, get a shortlist
• Check your employment contract — it should state which award applies (s.125 of the Fair Work Act requires employers to give you a copy of the FW Information Statement)
• Check your payslip — some employers list the award name and classification (they're supposed to)
• Ask your employer directly in writing — they're required to tell you under s.125
• Visit fairwork.gov.au and use the "Find your award" tool

Step 2: Work out your classification level within the award. This is where it gets fiddly. Each award has multiple classification levels (e.g., Retail Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — or Aged Care Employee Level 1 through Level 7). The classification is based on the actual work you do, not your job title. Classification descriptors in each award spell out what duties fall under each level.

Common mistake: employers classifying workers at a lower level than their actual duties warrant. A retail worker doing stock ordering, rostering junior staff and opening/closing the store is almost certainly at Level 3 or 4, not Level 1. A cook running a small kitchen solo should probably be a Level 4 or 5 hospitality classification, not a Level 2.

Step 3: Check the current rate. Once you know the award and classification, look up the current minimum rate. Use our pay rates lookup or check fairwork.gov.au. Compare it against your actual hourly rate on your most recent payslip. If your rate is at or above the classification minimum, you're being paid correctly at the floor. If it's below, you're being underpaid — and you can claim back-pay up to 6 years using our back-pay calculator.

Step 4: Recheck after 1 July 2026. Whatever the FWC hands down, your minimum rate will change. Don't assume your employer will automatically apply the increase. A surprising number don't — either through oversight (small employers who don't read the FWC decisions) or deliberately. Check your July and August payslips against the new rate.

"I'm on a salary — the award doesn't apply to me." This is one of the most common misunderstandings in Australian workplaces. The truth is much more nuanced and depends on exactly how your paid-above-award arrangement is structured.

Scenario 1: Standard above-award hourly rate. You're paid a flat hourly rate that's above the award minimum. The award still fully applies to you. The annual wage review increase still applies in the sense that your minimum rate moves. But if your actual paid rate is already above the new minimum, your boss doesn't legally have to give you an increase. You'd need to negotiate it separately.

Scenario 2: Annualised salary under an award annualised wage clause. Many modern awards (Retail, Hospitality, Restaurant, Clerks) include annualised wage arrangements where you're paid a single annual figure intended to cover base, overtime, penalty rates, allowances and leave loading. The catch: the annualised salary must equal or exceed what you'd have earned under the award for the actual hours you worked. When the award rates go up on 1 July, the annualised benchmark goes up too. Your employer must reconcile annually (in writing) and make up any shortfall. Missing this is a common underpayment trap.

Scenario 3: Common law "all-up" salary (off-set clauses). Contracts sometimes say "your salary includes and offsets any entitlements under the Award." These clauses are only valid if the total salary actually equals or exceeds what the award would require across the full scope of hours, penalties, allowances etc. Courts have repeatedly struck down off-set clauses where employers used them to underpay salaried staff who worked significant overtime. The 1 July award increase pushes the benchmark higher, meaning some of these arrangements that were compliant in June 2026 won't be in July.

Scenario 4: Salary above the Award-free high-income threshold. For employees earning above the "high income threshold" (currently around $175,000) who agree in writing to a guarantee of annual earnings, some award provisions can be displaced. But crucially, the base minimum wage and core NES provisions still apply.

Bottom line: if you're paid above the award, the 1 July increase doesn't automatically flow to you — but it can change whether your arrangement is still compliant. Worth a check each July. Use our pay calculator to compare your effective hourly rate to the post-decision award rate.

Roughly 41% of Australian employees are on enterprise agreements, 23% are directly covered by awards, 35% are on individual agreements (common law contracts above the award), and a small remainder are award-free. The June decision affects each group differently. Here's the real picture.

Award-only workers (~23% of employees, ~2.7 million people): Direct beneficiaries. Whatever the Commission awards flows straight to their pay on 1 July. No negotiation required, no employer discretion. If the Commission says 4%, they get 4%.

EBA workers (~41% of employees): It depends on the EBA. Three sub-groups:

• EBAs with award-linked clauses (~15% of all employees): agreement specifies "award rate + X%" or "NMW + Y%." When the award moves, the EBA rate moves automatically. Worker gets the increase by 1 July.
• EBAs with fixed annual increases (~20% of all employees): agreement specifies "2.5% per year" or similar. Worker gets whatever the EBA says, regardless of what the FWC decides. If the EBA says 2.5% and the FWC gives 4%, the EBA worker is behind.
• EBAs past nominal expiry in bargaining limbo (~6% of all employees): no agreement on renewal yet. Worker stuck on old rates. This is the worst category for real wages — some of these arrangements are 18 months past expiry with no increases.

Individual contract workers above the award (~35% of employees): Mixed picture. The contract rate is whatever was agreed. Annual reviews are typically at employer discretion. In 2025, the average annual increase for this cohort was around 3% — below the 3.75% NMW increase. So many individual contract workers actually fell further behind low-paid award workers in relative terms.

The net effect of all this: the Annual Wage Review increase is most consistently and automatically delivered to the workers at the bottom. Workers in the middle (individual contracts) often get less. Workers at the top (EBA in bargaining) can do better if they negotiate well, but it's not automatic.

One practical implication: if you're in the EBA-past-expiry category, the Annual Wage Review decision doesn't help you automatically. You need to push for a new agreement. The FWC decision can strengthen your bargaining position — unions regularly cite it as the minimum acceptable increase — but it doesn't deliver money to your account by itself.

How many awards get updated in the Annual Wage Review?
All 121 modern awards. Plus the National Minimum Wage Order, which covers workers not under any award. The variation applies to minimum wage rates at every classification level within each award.

Does the increase apply to junior and apprentice rates?
Yes. Junior and apprentice rates are expressed as a percentage of the adult rate (e.g., 45% for under-16s, 60% for 17-year-olds, etc). When the adult rate moves, the percentage-based junior rates move proportionally. So every junior and apprentice under an award gets an increase too.

What if my employer refuses to apply the increase on 1 July?
Not applying the FWC decision is an underpayment under the Fair Work Act. You can report it to the Fair Work Ombudsman, who will compel back-pay. You can also recover the shortfall through small claims court (up to $100,000) or the Federal Court. Limitation period is 6 years from the date of each underpayment.

Does the increase affect allowances and penalty rates?
Indirectly. Most allowances in modern awards are fixed dollar amounts that the FWC adjusts separately. Penalty rates are expressed as percentages of the base rate — so when the base rate goes up, the dollar value of penalty rates automatically goes up too. A 4% increase lifts the dollar value of a 150% public holiday penalty by 4% as well.

How do I know which classification level I should be on?
Read the classification descriptors in your award (available on fwc.gov.au). They describe the duties, skills and responsibilities at each level. The classification is based on what you actually do at work, not your job title. If in doubt, ask your union or use our pay rates lookup to compare.