Australia to create 10,000 hospitality jobs

According to a recent report by Restaurant and Catering Australia (R&CA), 10,000 jobs in the country’s hospitality industry could be created over the next 15 years. Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FCW) is currently considering a proposed restructuring of wage systems which would see penalty rates redefined. Under current employment legislation, employers are required to pay any employees working Saturday/Sunday ‘penalty rates’, typically time and a half or double time. However, Australian employers argue this drives up wages disproportionately to other industries. The proposal  to the FCW suggests removing the ‘penalty rates’ meaning that all seven days are classed as working days with no increased hourly rates. The report from R&CA claims that the proposal would allow employers to operate more freely without the burden of having to pay disproportionately high wages, and this in turn would create 10,000 new jobs. R&CA’s report predicts a restructuring of the wage system would create almost 4000 jobs in the first year, with an additional 8000 by 2030.