The 2026 review raised most award minimum rates 4.75% and the national minimum wage 5.97% to $26.44 an hour. If your actual wage costs rose and your charge-out rate did not, your margin absorbed the difference.
- The general award increase is 4.75%, with additional adjustments to the lowest classifications. Check the current pay guide for the employee's award and classification.
- The national minimum wage is $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, for eligible adult employees not covered by an award or registered agreement.
- If you increase a $40 hourly wage by 4.75%, wages plus 12% super rise about $2.13 per paid hour. At 1,976 paid hours a year, that is about $4,205 to recover across your billable hours.
- Award rates are a wage floor for employees, not a charge-out rate. The rate you charge has to clear wages, super, overheads and unbillable time.
- The award floors on our trade rates pages already reflect the 1 July 2026 rates, and the charge-out calculator turns your costs into your rate.
Keep asking about it in
Quick answer: the 2026 review raised most award minimum rates 4.75% and the national minimum wage to $26.44 an hour. Recalculate from your actual new wage bill: the increase applies across paid hours, and your billable hours must recover that cost. A higher minimum does not automatically mean every above-award wage rises by the same percentage.
What actually changed on 1 July 2026?
Two different increases, and the difference matters:
- The general award increase was 4.75%. The new minimums apply from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The lowest C13 and C14 classifications received additional structural adjustments, so use the relevant pay guide for the actual rate (Fair Work Commission decision, 2 June 2026).
- The national minimum wage rose 5.97% to $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week. It is the base rate for eligible adult employees who are award and agreement free; it is not the rate for everyone affected by the award review (Fair Work Commission, Australian Public Service Commission).
For the rate you need to pay, check the Fair Work Ombudsman’s review guidance and pay guides. If you already pay above the new minimum, the award change alone does not establish a matching percentage increase to that wage; an agreement or contract may add its own requirements.
If you want the resulting dollar floors by trade rather than the percentages, the award pay guide tables on our trade rates pages were built from the post-increase rates, so the cost floors quoted there already include the 1 July 2026 rise.
What does 4.75% cost per employee?
The arithmetic is short. Suppose you increase a tradesperson’s $40 hourly wage by 4.75%. This is an example of a wage decision, not a claim that every $40 wage must rise by that amount:
- The 4.75% rise adds $1.90 an hour in wages.
- Superannuation at 12% on that increase adds about 23 cents an hour.
- Total: $2.128 per paid hour, rounded to about $2.13.
- At an illustrative 38 paid hours a week for 52 weeks: $4,204.93 a year, or about $4,205.
- If that employee produces 1,500 billable hours a year: $2.80 per billable hour to recover the increase.
Paid hours and billable hours do different jobs in this calculation. Paid hours determine the wage cost, including paid time that cannot be invoiced. Billable hours determine how much each invoiced hour must recover. Two employees on these same assumptions add about $8,410 a year in wages and super. This simplified example excludes overtime, allowances, leave loading and any changes to workers compensation or payroll tax; add the costs that apply to your business.
If you are weighing whether that employee should be a subcontractor instead, the full comparison is in subcontractor versus employee cost.
Why an award increase is not a charge-out rate increase
The award sets what an employer must pay an employee. It says nothing about what the business charges the customer, and the two numbers live far apart: between them sit super, vehicles, tools, insurance, fuel, quoting time, travel and every rained-off day. That is why market charge-out rates on our rates pages run well above the award floors on the same page.
But the floor and the rate are connected: when your actual wage bill rises and the charge-out rate stays still, the gap that pays for everything else narrows. A flat “add 5% to the invoice” is one response, but it compounds guesswork on guesswork. The better method is to rebuild the rate from costs:
- Put your new wage bill into the charge out rate calculator with your overheads and realistic billable hours.
- Compare the rate it produces against what you currently charge.
- If the gap is uncomfortable, that is the size of the margin you have been quietly giving away since July.
Raising rates is a nerve test, and it is a far easier one when the work is coming in steadily. That is the case for building a lead flow you own before you need the pricing power, not after.
What about apprentices?
Apprentice rates often use a percentage of an award classification, but the applicable amount can also depend on age, training stage and other award conditions. Trainee arrangements have their own schedules. Check the current pay guide instead of applying one percentage to every person. For the business cost beyond the wage, including supervision time and productive-hours assumptions, see what an apprentice really costs.
The renewal-season habit worth keeping
Review your charge-out rate when the annual pay guides change. Use the new minimums, the wages you actually pay and your own paid and billable hours. The charge out rate calculator helps turn those costs into a rate you can check against your current quotes.