A business lobby groups has said that the minimum wage increase is only going to hurt small businesses and make it harder for the industry to employ more number of people.
But Jenny Lambert a director of employment, education and training in the Australian Chamber of Commerce says that the $16 per week increase that has been awarded to close to two million lowest paid workers in the nation is enough money to live on. On Wednesday she laid claim to the fact that she could survive on the minimum wage as she spoke to Nine Network.
Fair Work Commission granted the boost equating to $657 pre-tax wage per week which translates to around 43% of average weekly pay. Initially, ACTU had lobbied for a $27 increase per week and it now feel that the grant is not good enough.
According to ACTU, this increase will only widen the gap that is already there between the minimum and average wage earners. It further says that the low increase is a sign that Australia is headed down the same path the US went in entrenching the working poor class.
Responding to the statement, Ms Lambert says that there is a huge difference between Australia and US considering that the US had not had any minimum wage increase for years whereas Australia had had at least increases. She went ahead to say that the two countries can’t compare because the US has a $7 minimum wage per hour while Australia’s stands at $17 minimum wage for the same period.
Ms Lambert further said that the Fair Work Commission had not been fair to the country’s economy by demanding such substantial increase that was above average. Businesses had lobbied for a $6 minimum wage increase per week.
David Oliver who is the national secretary of ACTU talking to Nine Network on his part said that business productivity, executive salaries and profits were high. He added that small business have good bonus from recent federal budget and for that reason they definitely could afford pay increases.
Giving his opinion on the same matter, University of Sydney Business School Professor John Buchanan said it was disappointing that the FWC had chosen to play cautions and opted to hand down the important decision which he feels does very little in remedying the inequality of wage increase that has been recurring over the decades.
With the wage increase expected to get into effect from July 1, Jenny Lambert of ACCI has been likened with Jenny Macklin, the former Families Minister. The Minister is remembered for sparking outrage back in 2013 when she declared that she could comfortably live on $245 a week. It is a statement that seemed outrageous and unrealistic considering she was earning a cool $6321 per week serving as a cabinet minister.
The minister had made the comments in efforts to defend the decision by former Labor Government to move about 84,000 single parents to Newstart from the parenting payment.
This story was original publised on mobile.news.com.au
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