• Australian Council of Social Services
• Australian Council of Social Services

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15 July 2008ACOSS's submission to the Fair Pay Commission calls for a substantial rise in minimum wages to help ease financial pressures on low paid workers from rising rents, food and fuel prices. It argues that the financial security of low paid households rests on three pillars: minimum wages, employment, and income support and that it would be risky to rely too heavily on the income support system alone to maintain their living standards. The minimum wage should be at least sufficient to ensure that a single adult can achieve a modest but adequate standard of living well above poverty levels. The paper includes new data on poverty among low paid households and detailed analysis of the relationship between minimum wages and employment and incentives to work.