Australian economy Labor considering options to peg minimum wage to median income Brendan O’Connor says legislation could ensure minimum wage is a set proportion of median Brendan O’Connor and Bill Shorten have signalled Labor will target low wages. Photograph: Joe Castro/AAPLabor has left the door open to pegging the minimum wage to median earnings, which one labour market expert said could result in increases of $80 a week for low-paid workers. On Tuesday in a speech laying out Labor’s agenda for 2018 Bill Shorten called for a “real living wage” and noting that the minimum wage has been going “backwards relative to median wages for years”. Australia, don't become Trump's America, warns Wayne Swan Read moreTim Lyons, who ran the minimum wage case for the Australian Council of Trade Unions for seven years, seized on the comments telling Guardian Australia it signalled a “much more aggressive approach to raising the minimum wage from a future Labor government”. United Voice and the ACTU have called for the minimum wage to be raised to 60% of the median wage, up from 54%, to provide a “living wage” to workers currently earning $36,000 a year.

Source: The Guardian January 31, 2018 08:26 UTC