Australia and the World Past and Present

In the hospitality industry in Australia, the award rate can differ by age. Workers under a certain age are paid “junior rates”, which are lower than the adult rate. These are set out in the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, which is administered by the Fair Work Commission.

Under this award, workers under 21 years old can be paid a percentage of the adult wage, increasing with age.

Typical age bands are:

• Under 17 – about 55–60% of the adult rate
• 17 years old – about 65% of the adult rate
• 18 years old – about 75% of the adult rate
• 19 years old – about 85% of the adult rate
• 20 years old – about 95% of the adult rate
• 21+ – full adult rate

So a worker under 21 will normally be paid less per hour than someone over 21 doing the same job.

For an introductory level hospitality worker under the award, the weekday minimum rates are roughly:

• Under 17: about $12.14 per hour
• 17 years: about $14.57 per hour
• 18 years: about $17.00 per hour
• 19 years: about $20.64 per hour
• 20 years: about $24.28 per hour
• 21+ (adult): higher again depending on classification.

Rates increase further with higher classification levels (Level 1–5), casual loading, and weekend and public holiday penalties.

There are a few situations where a junior must be paid the adult rate even if under 21, such as if the job requires serving or selling alcohol or if the workplace has an enterprise agreement that sets higher rates.

Let’s say someone aged 16 does 30 hours a week, how much would they earn? And if someone aged 40 did the same hours, how much would they earn? What would be the difference between the two?

To make a simple comparison, we can use typical weekday award rates for a Level 1 hospitality worker.

For a rough comparison, let’s use ordinary weekday hours with no penalties.

• 16-year-old rate: about 60% of the adult rate, roughly $14.40 per hour.
• Adult rate (21+): about $24 per hour

For the 16-year-old, that’s $14.40 x 30 = $432 per week.

For the 40-year-old that’s $24 x 30 hours = $720 per week.

So the difference is $288 per week.

Now, the annual difference. The 16-year-old would receive $432 × 52 = $22,464, while the 40-year-old would take home $720 × 52 = $37,440.

The annual difference comes out as $14,976

In practice, the gap can be even larger because adults often receive higher classification levels. If you include penalty rates, weekend rates or public holiday rates, the difference will be even larger.

And the more employees there are, the bigger the difference will be to the employer.

In the hospitality industry in Australia, there is certainly an incentive to employ individuals under the age of 21 and an economic disincentive to hire adult staff.