Dominic is the CEO of Lawpath, dedicating his days to making legal easier, faster and more accessible to businesses. Dominic is a recognised thought-leader in Australian legal disruption, and was recognised as a winner of the Australian Legal Innovation Index and recently a winner of the LexisNexis 40 Under 40 (APAC).
The Lawpath Minimum Wage Checker (below) is a free tool that shows the legal National Minimum Wage for an award and agreement free employee in Australia. Enter the person’s age, their employment type and their ordinary hours, and the minimum wage checker returns the hourly floor, plus weekly, fortnightly and annual figures.
A lot of owners treat $26.44 an hour as the rate for every staff member. That figure is the adult National Minimum Wage from 1 July 2026, and it only applies if no modern award or enterprise agreement covers the role. Juniors have lower official floors. Casuals get a 25% loading on top. If an award does cover the role, you often pay more than the national floor.
What is the minimum wage checker, and who is it for?
It’s a planning tool for anyone setting a wage: a sole trader hiring for the first time, or a small team checking a junior or casual rate before an offer goes out. If you’ve asked “what’s the minimum I can lawfully pay this person?”, it’s for you.
It answers one question: what is the National Minimum Wage floor for this person, given their age and whether they are full-time, part-time or casual? You still need to check whether an award covers the role before you lock in the pay.
How to use the minimum wage checker
Here’s what you enter in the calculator above, in order.
- Age. Enter the employee’s age in years. Under 16s use the official under-16 rate. From 21, the adult rate applies.
- Employment type. Choose full-time, part-time or casual. Casuals get the 25% loading included in the hourly figure.
- Ordinary hours per week. This defaults to 38, which is a full-time week. Change it for a part-timer or a casual who works fewer hours. Hours above 38 are capped, because the tool does not calculate overtime.
What do the results show?
- Hourly minimum: the official floor for that age and employment type.
- Weekly, fortnightly and annual figures: the hourly rate multiplied by the ordinary hours you enter, then by 2 and by 52. For an adult on 38 ordinary hours, the weekly figure is the official $1,004.90, not $26.44 times 38 (which comes out 18 cents lower).
- Casual loading: if you choose casual, the result also shows the 25% loading per hour on top of the base rate.
- Junior note: if the person is under 21, the result names the age band and that this is the special national minimum wage for award and agreement free juniors.
Minimum wage checker: a worked example
Illustrative example: an award and agreement free adult, working 38 ordinary hours, using the official rates from 1 July 2026.
| Employment type | Hourly | Weekly (38 hours) | Annual (52 weeks) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time or part-time | $26.44 | $1,004.90 | $52,254.80 |
| Casual (includes 25% loading) | $33.05 | $1,255.90 | $65,306.80 |
The casual loading on that adult rate is $6.61 an hour ($33.05 minus $26.44). Change the person to a 17-year-old casual on the same 38 hours and the official floor drops to $19.11 an hour, or $726.18 a week and $37,761.36 a year.
Those junior dollars come from the Fair Work Ombudsman’s published table for award and agreement free employees, not from a rounding of percentages in the checker itself. If an award covers the 17-year-old, their minimum will usually be different, and often higher.
The national floor, and your award
The Fair Work Ombudsman sets out the National Minimum Wage as $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. Casual employees entitled to that wage must receive at least $33.05 an hour, which includes the 25% loading. The Fair Work Commission set those rates in its Annual Wage Review 2026 decision on 2 June 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 3500) and in the National Minimum Wage Order 2026.
This wage is the floor for adult employees in the national system who are not covered by an award or enterprise agreement. Most employees are covered by an award. The same review increased modern award minimum wages by 4.75%, provided the lowest ongoing award rate is at least the national floor, and any short entry-level rate is at least $25.74 an hour (or $978.10 a week). Our Pay Calculator is the place to check award rates and take-home pay. The minimum wage checker does not look up awards.
Junior rates for award and agreement free staff are published by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Awards can set a different junior scale, and some awards have no junior scale at all, which means the adult award rate applies. The checker also leaves out apprentice, trainee and disability-adjusted rates, and it does not add penalty rates, overtime or allowances.
Minimum wage checker vs pay calculator
Use the two tools together. The minimum wage checker shows the legal floor for an award and agreement free employee. The Pay Calculator shows award rates for common industries and the employee’s take-home pay after tax. Once you know what you have to pay, our Cost of Employment Calculator adds super, payroll tax, workers comp and leave loading, so you can see what the hire costs the business.
Frequently asked questions
Is the minimum wage checker free?
Yes. It’s free to use and there’s no login or sign-up.
What is the National Minimum Wage from 1 July 2026?
$26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, for an award and agreement free adult. Casuals entitled to that wage receive at least $33.05 an hour, including the 25% loading. The rates apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.
Does the minimum wage checker give me the award rate?
No. It shows the National Minimum Wage floor for award and agreement free employees. If a modern award or enterprise agreement covers the role, you must pay that rate when it is higher. Use the Pay Calculator or the Fair Work Ombudsman’s pay tools to check the award.
What is the minimum wage for a junior or casual employee?
For award and agreement free staff, juniors have official lower hourly floors by age, and casuals get a 25% loading on the base rate for their age. Enter the age and choose casual in the checker above to see the figure. If an award covers the person, use the award’s own junior and casual scale instead.
Check the floor before you make the offer
Getting the legal floor right is the starting point, not the whole pay decision. Once you have it, check the award and then the cost to the business.
See the National Minimum Wage for your next hire in a couple of minutes with the free Minimum Wage Checker above.
Get your Full Time Employment Agreement legal document for free.
This article is general information only and isn’t legal, tax or financial advice. Rates and entitlements change, so get advice for your situation and check the official Fair Work Ombudsman and Fair Work Commission sources.
