Minimum Wage Debate in AUSTRALIA

Running head: MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE IN AUSTRALIA
MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE IN AUSTRALIA
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MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE IN AUSTRALIA1
Introduction
As opined by Marks (2017), an important debate that had been going on within the
employability sector for a very long period of time is the debate related to the minimum wage of
the workers or the employees. Clibborn and Wright (2018) are of the viewpoint that the business
corporations need to offer the bare minimum wages to the employees or the workers so that they
would be able to sustain themselves. However, the major problem arises because of the fact that
the different business corporations offer wages to their workers on the basis of the nature or for
that matter the kind of work which is being performed by the workers within the spectrum of the
business corporations (Chomik and Piggott 2016). This in turn had given rise to the issue of
minimum wage which the employees have been demanding from the business corporations so as
to fulfill their basic psychosocial needs (Broecke, Quintini and Vandeweyer 2018). Furthermore,
within the particular context of the nation of Australia it had been seen that the Fair Work
Commission had mandated the different business corporations of the concerned nation to offer
the bare minimum wages or for that matter remuneration to the workers regardless of the nature
or the kind of work which is being performed by them. The paper intends to undertake an
analysis of the minimum wage debate from the perspective of the different stakeholders who are
associated with the same and also the likely issues that the business corporations are going to
face for the usage of the same.
Minimum Wage Debate
Nelson et al. (2019) are of the viewpoint that the primary objective of the different
individuals for working in the different business corporations to earn the required amount of
capital which in turn would help them to fulfill their basic psychological needs. However, as
discussed by Bishop (2018), the below par wages offered by the business corporations to the
workers had also affected the quality or for that matter the quantity of work which is being
performed by the workers. For instance, Adam’s Equity theory of motivation if equal amount of
wages are being offered to the workers for the work that they perform then this is likely to
motivate them in the best possible manner (Kaufman 2016). However, within the framework of
the different business corporations it had been seen that despite performing equal amount of
work the employees are not being offered equal wages or the bare minimum amount of wages

MINIMUM WAGE DEBATE IN AUSTRALIA2
that they need to sustain themselves (Imbun 2015). In the face of this, the Fair Work
Commission of the nation of Australia had made it imperative for the different business
corporations of the nation of Australia to offer the bare minimum wages to the workers so that
they are being able to sustain themselves in the best possible manner.
As per the mandate of the Fair Work Commission of the nation of Australia the different
business corporations of the concerned nation are required to increase the wages that they offer
to the employees by around 3% (Fwc.gov.au 2019). For instance, effective from 1st July, 2019,
the different business corporations of the nation of Australia are required to offer a minimum
wage of $740.80 per week or for that matter $19.49 per hour to their employees regardless of the
nature or the kind of work which is being performed by them (Karp 2019). This is actually an
important milestones for the different workers of the concerned nation since over the years it had
been seen that the below par wages or for that matter the remunerations which had been offered
to them by the business corporations of Australia had adversely affected the quality of the life
that they lead (Oliver and Yu 2018). However, at the same time it needs to be said that this is
likely to have negative connotations for the business corporations since they are required to offer
additional wages to their workers irrespective of the nature or the kind of the work which is
being performed by the employees within their workplaces (O’Brien and Markey 2019).
Stakeholders impacted by Minimum Wage
Nelson et al. (2019) are of the viewpoint that the most important stakeholders who would
be affected by the dictum of the Fair Work Commission of the nation of Australia related to the
bare minimum wages that the different business corporations operational in the concerned nation
are required to offer to their employees are the workers, universities, business corporations and
others. As discussed by McKenzie (2018), the stakeholders who would be affected the most by
the dictum of the Fair Work Commission regarding the minimum wage would be the employees
and as a matter of fact they are likely to get the maximum amount of benefit by the same. For
instance, over the years it had been seen that the qualifications, experience, the nature or for that
matter the kind of work performed by the workers were the major factors which determined the
wage or the remunerations that were offered to them by the business corporations (Mays and
Marston 2016). This in turn put the employees at a disadvantage since in the majority of the