The FWC's expert panel has this morning approved a 3.75% increase in all award rates and the national minimum wage, but has rebuffed the ACTU's bid for an immediate additional 4% for workers in highly-feminised industries, instead committing to a timetable to address the issue over the next 12 months.
The Federal Government has made a "technical assumption" that there will be a minimum wage increase of 3.5% this year, the FWC's expert panel heard yesterday, while Commission President Adam Hatcher lamented the "Catch-22" situation the Commission faces in weighing whether Canberra will fund any gender-based increases.
The Federal Government "strongly supports" the Stage 3 pay increases of up to 13.5% determined in the aged care work value case, but wants them phased-in, with half to be paid in January next year and the remainder in January 2026.
The FWC is seeking submissions on the latest phase of its research on gender-based occupational segregation, which has been released ahead of this year's annual wage review.
The FWC's minimum wage panel should award an increase of no more than 2% in this year's annual wage review, according to peak employer group ACCI, partly to correct "errors" in the Commission's analysis in its last two rulings.
Direct care workers in aged care will receive total work value pay rises of up to 28.5% after a five-member FWC full bench handed down its final ruling today.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has revealed a NDIS health service, the Energizer battery giant and an investment and logistics company have the largest median total remuneration gender pay gaps, while construction topped the list on an industry basis, under new laws requiring the agency to annually report the performance of companies with 100-plus employees.
The ACTU says the FWC should conduct a "comprehensive assessment" of gender-based undervaluation of work, rather than seek to finalise the issue in this year's minimum wage review.
The FWC has today launched the next stage of its gender pay equity research, in which it will examine a dozen awards covering highly-feminised sectors to uncover indicators of gender-based undervaluation of minimum rates, ahead of the 2023-24 annual wage review.
An increase in female managers helped shrink the average gender pay gap to 21.7% this year, down from 22.8%, according to the WGEA's latest gender equality scorecard.
