THE WAGE LOTTERY
HR Nicholls has counted what Australia's modern award system looks like, and the numbers are staggering.
The 122 modern awards now contain 205,816 separate rates of pay and 1,900 employee classifications: a different pay scale for every 16 workers employed under an award.
Since 2009 they have grown by 3,602 pages to 8,739 and been amended 7,568 times, more than once every single day.
The conclusion is unavoidable: this is one of the most complex minimum wage systems in the world. A tradesperson could fall under any of 87 awards, a labourer any of 82, and which one applies depends not on the work performed but on the employer's industry code.
New Zealand runs on three minimum rates. Australia runs on 205,816.
Every single pay run is a wager the employer has picked the right award, classification, rate and day. That is not a safety net, it is a lottery.
