Choose a Modern Award, classification and employment type to see an indicative minimum base rate, with casual loading and junior rates applied. Figures are based on the Annual Wage Review 2024-25 (effective 1 July 2025).
Takes ~1 minute · Indicative Annual Wage Review 2024-25 rates · Verify the current figure on Fair Work
15 Modern Awards
Common industries
By Classification
Every level & grade
Casual & Junior
Loadings applied
Hourly to Annual
Full-time equivalents
Getting pay right is one of the trickiest jobs a small business owner faces. Most Australian employees are covered by a Modern Award, and each award sets minimum pay by classification level, then adjusts it for employment type (full-time, part-time or casual) and for junior employees under a certain age. Get the classification wrong, forget a loading, or work from an out-of-date figure and you can end up underpaying staff — which carries real legal and reputational consequences — or overpaying and quietly eroding your margin. The Award Pay Rate Calculator gives owners and managers a fast, plain-English starting point: pick your award, classification and employment type, and see an indicative minimum rate without wading through the full award document.
You select from a set of common Modern Awards covering industries like retail, hospitality, construction, clerical, manufacturing, health, community services, cleaning, transport and more, then choose the relevant classification level and whether the person is full-time, part-time or casual, along with their age band. From those inputs the tool applies the standard adjustments — the casual loading on top of the base rate where casual is selected, and the applicable junior percentage of the adult rate where the employee is under the adult age — and converts the result into indicative hourly, weekly (on a standard full-time week) and annualised figures. It also surfaces a quick reference for that award's penalty conditions (weekends, public holidays, overtime, shift work), common allowances, and minimum engagement periods. Crucially, it does not present itself as the source of truth: every figure is date-stamped to the wage review it came from and flagged as indicative only, because award rates are reviewed and typically rise around 1 July each year. The tool repeatedly directs you to confirm the live figure for the specific role on the official Fair Work Pay Calculator before you pay anyone.
Australian small business owners, office managers and anyone doing payroll who needs a quick, plain-English sense of the minimum pay rate under a Modern Award before checking the official figure.
The short answers are here. For anything else, ask below or get in touch.
No — treat them as an indicative starting point, not a payroll instruction. The figures are drawn from a specific past wage review and date-stamped accordingly, and Modern Award rates are reviewed and usually increase around 1 July each year, so they may already be superseded. Junior percentages, casual loadings, allowances and penalty rates also vary by award and sometimes by classification. Before you set pay or pay an employee, always confirm the current rate for that exact role on the official Fair Work Pay Calculator at calculate.fairwork.gov.au.
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