Junior pay rates in retail, fast food and pharmacy: what

If you are 18, 19 or 20 and work in a shop, a fast food outlet or a pharmacy in Melbourne, your pay may go up from 1 December 2026. The Fair Work Commission has decided to phase out junior pay rates for workers aged 18 to 20 under the Retail, Fast Food and Pharmacy Awards. The catch is the six-month rule: the higher rate only kicks in once you have been with the same employer for more than six months. The Fair Work Ombudsman published the updated rates and dates on 2 November 2026.

What junior rates are, and why this matters to students

In Australia, many awards let employers pay workers under 21 a percentage of the adult wage. An 18 year old on the Retail Award, for example, is currently paid 70 per cent of the adult rate for the same job. A 19 year old gets 80 per cent and a 20 year old gets 90 per cent.

A lot of international students land their first Melbourne job in exactly these industries. Supermarkets, convenience stores, kebab shops, chicken shops, chemists. If you came here straight after finishing school in Bangladesh, you are probably 18 to 20 for most of your first degree, which means you are probably on a junior rate right now, possibly without realising it.

That is what is changing. Fair Work's page on the junior wage changes says workers aged 18 to 20 will move step by step to full adult pay, with the last step on 1 July 2029.

Which jobs are covered

The decision covers three awards, and in two of them only certain levels:

Fast Food Award: all junior employees aged 18 to 20.
Retail Award: levels 1, 2 and 3 only. That is most shop floor, checkout and stock work.
Pharmacy Award: pharmacy assistants at levels 1 and 2 only.

If your job is under a different award, nothing changes for you under this decision. Cafes and restaurants come under different awards and are not part of this case. Some awards, including the one that covers disability and home care support work, do not have junior rates at all, so an 18 year old support worker is already paid the adult rate. OneCall Melbourne's jobs page explains how we help students get into that kind of work.

Workers under 18 are not affected. Their percentages stay as they are.

The six-month rule

This is the part to read twice. The higher rate applies only once you have worked for your current employer for more than six months. Until then, you stay on the old junior percentage (70, 80 or 90 per cent).

Two things follow from that:

Time with a different employer does not count, even in the same industry. If you have done eight months at one chicken shop and then pick up a second job at another, you get the adult-track rate at the first job and the old junior rate at the second until you pass six months there too.
If the business is sold and the new owner keeps you on, your time with the old owner does count towards the six months.

So if you are 18 to 20 and have been in the same job since the start of the year, you are already past six months. Your first increase would land in the first full pay period starting on or after 1 December 2026.

How much, and when

Fair Work publishes the exact percentage of the adult rate for each age and each date. The short version for someone with more than six months in the job:

Fast Food Award and Retail Award (levels 1 to 3)

18 years old: 75 per cent from 1 December 2026, 80 per cent from 1 July 2027, 85 per cent from 1 December 2027, 90 per cent from 1 July 2028, 95 per cent from 1 December 2028, and the full adult rate from 1 July 2029.
19 years old: 85 per cent from 1 December 2026, 90 per cent from 1 July 2027, 95 per cent from 1 December 2027, then the full adult rate from 1 July 2028.
20 years old: in fast food, 95 per cent from 1 December 2026 and the full adult rate from 1 July 2027. In retail, 20 year olds go straight to the full adult rate on 1 December 2026.

Pharmacy Award (pharmacy assistants levels 1 and 2)

18 years old: 75 per cent from 1 December 2026, 85 per cent from 1 July 2027, 95 per cent from 1 July 2028, and the full adult rate from 1 July 2029.
19 years old: 85 per cent from 1 December 2026, 95 per cent from 1 July 2027, then the full adult rate from 1 July 2028.
20 years old: 95 per cent from 1 December 2026 and the full adult rate from 1 July 2027.

The adult rate itself is reviewed every year and last went up on 1 July 2026, so the dollar figure moves twice: once because the adult rate goes up, and once because your percentage of it goes up. Use Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool and pick the date you want to check. The updated pay guides for each award are on the same Fair Work page linked above.

What to do now

Find out which award you are on. Ask your manager, check your contract or pay slip, or search your job in the Pay and Conditions Tool. "Retail", "fast food" and "pharmacy" are the ones that matter here.
Work out your start date with this employer. Six months is counted from when you started with them, not from when you started working in Australia.
Check your current hourly rate against the junior percentage for your age. If you are 19 on the Retail Award and getting less than 80 per cent of the adult level 1 rate now, you may already be underpaid, before any of this starts. Check it.
Put a note in your calendar for your first pay after 1 December 2026. Compare the rate on that pay slip with the new percentage.
If the increase does not show up, ask your employer first. Many small businesses simply have not heard. If that goes nowhere, Fair Work has a page for young workers and students on how to raise a pay problem. Your visa does not change your right to be paid correctly, as we covered after a Melbourne employer was fined for exploiting visa workers.

None of this changes your visa work limit. If you are on a Student visa you still have the 48 hours a fortnight rule while your course is in session. Being paid more per hour is a good reason to keep an honest record of your hours.

Questions people ask

I am 20 and started my retail job in September. Do I get adult pay on 1 December?

Not yet. You need more than six months with that employer first. On the Retail Award, a 20 year old moves to the full adult rate once they pass the six-month mark, so in your case that would be around March 2027, in the first full pay period after you qualify.

I turn 21 soon anyway. Does this matter to me?

Once you turn 21 you are on adult rates regardless, under any of these awards. The change mostly helps people who have a year or two of being 18, 19 or 20 ahead of them. If you are 20 and have been in your fast food job for more than six months, you still pick up the jump to 95 per cent from 1 December 2026 until your birthday.

My boss says junior rates are "just how it is" for everyone under 21.

That was true for these three awards until now, and it stays true for workers under 18. From 1 December 2026 it is no longer true for 18 to 20 year olds with more than six months' service in retail (levels 1 to 3), fast food and pharmacy assistant roles. Fair Work's page is the thing to show them. It is written for employers too.

If you want to talk it through

Pay rules are one thing. Working out how a job fits around your course and your visa conditions is another. OneCall Melbourne's partner education consultants talk to students about this every week. Send a message through OneCall Melbourne, or call Sarah, OneCall's line, on 0485 057 057.

Sources

General information only, checked against the official sources above on the day it was written. It is not migration advice: only a registered migration agent or a lawyer can give you that.

Junior pay rates in retail, fast food and pharmacy: what changes from 1 December 2026