Up to one in six recent migrants are paid less than the minimum wage. Here’s why
- Written by Brendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan Institute
From working 20 to 30 hours of unpaid overtime each week in one of Australia’s fanciest restaurants to picking fruit while being exposed to dangerous chemicals for less than $10 an hour, the underpayment of migrant workers is rife.
The Grattan Institute’s new report, Short-changed: How to stop the exploitation of migrant workers in Australia, show a broad pattern.
We’ve used two nationally representative Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys of employees and employers – Characteristics of Employment and Employee Earnings and Hours – to find out whether employees are paid below the national minimum hourly wage in Australia, currently $21.38 an hour or $26.73 an hour for casuals.
We estimate that recent migrants – those who arrived in Australia within the past five years – are twice as likely to be underpaid as migrants who have been in Australia for at least 10 years, and those born here.
Underpayment is widespread
In 2022, 5% to 16% of employed recent migrants were paid less than the national minimum wage. Between 1% and 8.5% of recent migrants were paid at least $3 less than the hourly minimum.