The Complications of the Aged Care Pay Rise
On Tuesday last week it was announced that the Fair Work Commission has decided to introduce a 15% pay rise in aged care to direct care workers in one swoop on the 1st of July, as opposed to introducing the pay rise in two instalments as directed by the federal government.
The United Workers Union (UWU), Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) and the Health Services Union (HSU) have all been pushing for a pay rise to the undervalued industry of aged care for some time.
In June 2022, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (Ceda) released a report announcing that approximately 65 000 workers are leaving the aged care sector each year. This of course dramatically escalates the shortage of staff in the industry and has increased the risk of compromising the care for older Australians. The Aged Care Royal Commission found that low pay was largely contributing to staff shortages.
While it is universally acknowledged that care workers are very deserving of a pay rise, there has been concern over this pay rise not matching with the government funding of a 10% rise in 2023 and 5% in 2024. An announcement that was scrutinised heavily of in December last year.
ACCPA CEO Tom Symondson expressed “We have publicly supported the need for significant pay-rises for our workforce, and fully supported the government’s 2022 election commitment to fully fund them. However, this must not be at the costs of our sector’s ability to deliver care to older Australians”
In ACCPA’s media release on the day of the announcement, they shared the view “Increases to salaries are sorely needed, but so is matched funding. As we have clearly stated, time and again, our sector is in financial crisis and cannot afford unfunded pay rises of this scale.”
“It is about time that our sector was recognised as significant contributors to the fabric of our society. All stakeholders have a responsibility to uphold the caring professions.”
LPA Managing Director Lorraine Poulos
How gender comes into play
Sadly, but unfortunately, not surprisingly, it is the female-dominated industries that are most in need of pay adjustments. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged this in the past stating “In traditionally female-dominated industries like aged care and disability services, women’s work has been undervalued for too long…closing the gender pay gap means boosting women’s wages”.
Women contribute to over 80% of the aged care industry. President of Health Services Union Gerard Hayes has said that the aged care sector has ‘relied for too long on the goodwill of an underpaid and insecure workforce of women’.
According to the 2022 WGEA Gender Equality Scorecard, Australia’s current overall gender pay gap is 22.8% and on average earn, $26,596 less than men each year.
Hopefully, this well overdue pay rise in aged care will be a positive step forward in closing the gender pay gap, assuming the government funding can be aligned with workforce pay rises to avoid even further significant financial strain on the industry.
