The Fair Work Commission has ruled that junior pay rates for those aged 18 to 20, working in retail, pharmacy and fast food, should be scrapped.
All workers are equal, but are some more equal than others?
For years, this has been the reality for many young Australians, paid a fraction of what colleagues just a few years older are earning. But for half a million workers, this is about to change.
On March 31, 2026, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) issued a landmark ruling abolishing junior rates for workers aged 18 to 20 in retail, pharmacy, and fast-food.
Together, these industries represent common sources of casual income for students.
Other industries that operate under junior rates, including hospitality and manufacturing, are still excluded from this specific ruling.
Currently, retail, pharmacy, and fast-food workers younger than 21 are entitled to a percentage of the full adult rate that steadily rises with age: 18-year-olds receive 70 per cent, 19-year-olds receive 80 per cent, and 20-year-olds receive 90 per cent. This system has been in place for several decades.
The FWC ruling will dismantle this, increasing the wages of workers aged 18 and over with at least six months of experience to the full adult rate from December 2026, phased in over four years. Workers under 18 remain unaffected by the change.
Many young workers didn't feel there was anything they could do about the pay gap Shutterstock
The pay gap was a quiet reality for many young Australians, who didn’t feel empowered to challenge it – until now.
Charlotte, 20, started working at two pharmacies on Sydney’s North Shore when she was 18. She was responsible for customer transactions, restocking shelves, and assisting elderly clients with their medication, for which she was paid a junior rate.
She was saving up to move out for university, but she found that her reduced wages restricted her budget far more than she had initially expected. "I did have to set aside money and plan it out in a way that would have been easier if I'd been paid the full rate," she said.
Beyond her wage, what frustrated Charlotte most was the absence of an avenue to question it.
"I didn't really know that I had the right to question anything," she said. "It was just kind of a set number. There wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it."
The pay disparity was harder to ignore while she worked alongside older colleagues completing identical tasks. "Considering you're already in a high-stress environment dealing with people who might be having different medical issues, it didn't feel super reasonable," Charlotte said.
Max, 21, knows this feeling well. He has worked in retail since he was 19, and he relied on his casual wages to cover part of his rent while he lived on campus.
The wage gap was never formally explained to him. "No one ever really explains to you that you're getting paid a small percentage of the rate an adult will get," he said. "I figured it out myself because no one told me."
Given he was expected to hit the same sales targets as older colleagues, Max said the wage disparity didn’t make sense.
"Why should people who do the same work get paid differently?" he said.
Max became increasingly aware of the variable number of shifts he was given. He recalled experiencing "weeks of really high highs and really low lows."
"If it was a slow week and my shifts were cut, I was pretty devastated," he said. With rent to cover, the pay difference rippled across Max’s life. "Maybe you don't buy that next drink on the night out, or you don't buy dinner out one night," he said.
His reaction to the ruling was clear: "About time."
The wage gap of young hospitality workers have been left out of the new FWC rulingPexels
Both Charlotte’s and Max’s experiences reflect a concern that the FWC has now formally recognised.
The ruling is the result of an application lodged by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), and heard by the FWC in 2025, amid the rising cost-of-living pressures faced by young Australians.
The 2025 Australian Youth Barometer found that 85 per cent of 18-24-year-olds had faced financial difficulties in the past year, with almost one in five experiencing food insecurity.
SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer described the outcome as "up there with the introduction of equal pay for women in the 1970s".
"Eighteen-year-olds can vote, drive and put their lives on the line for their country," he said. "Now they will be paid the same as other adults."
But not everyone welcomes the change. The Australian Retail Council warned the ruling would harm small businesses struggling to navigate rising operational costs, while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar labelled it a "disappointing decision" that would discourage businesses from hiring young people entering the workforce.
While the concerns are not without precedent, neither is the solution. For example, New Zealand phased out the youth minimum wage for 16 to 19-year-olds from 2001 to 2008, replacing it with a "first job" rate and a training wage set at 80 per cent of the full award rate.
Since then, a 2021 study found limited observable evidence that employment opportunities for young workers were compromised.
For Charlotte, the change cannot come soon enough. "You're just as valuable as a worker, and you deserve to be paid the same, even if you're currently not," she said.
Max is more direct: "Suck it up, because we all had to. But that's what we're all striving for – for it to be fair."
