Almost a third of international students, backpackers and other temporary migrants to Australia are earning AUS$12 (US$ 8.65) an hour or less, about half of the national minimum wage.
The survey found large-scale underpayment was worst in fruit and vegetable-picking and farm work, where 15% of workers earned AUS$5 (US$ 3.61) an hour or less. Nearly a third (31%) earned AUS $10 (US$ 7.21) an hour or less.
The findings were published in the report ‘Wage Theft in Australia’, authored by senior law lecturers Bassina Farbenblum from the University of New South Wales, and Laurie Berg from the University of Technology Sydney. Their analysis also revealed that for every 100 underpaid migrant workers, only three complained about their situation to the fair work ombudsman. But of those that did, more than half recovered nothing as a result.
“The study dispelled the misconception that temporary migrants are underpaid because they are unaware of minimum wage rates in Australia,” the report said. “Though they may not have known their precise entitlements, the overwhelming majority who earned AUS$15 (US$ 10.82) or less knew that the legal minimum wage was higher.”
But the workers also believed that few people on their kind of visa could expect to receive the minimum wage under Australian labour law, it added.
They likewise experienced a number of barriers to reporting wage-theft, Farbenblum and Berg found. Many workers were either unsure of the process or believed it would be too difficult to recover what they were owed. More than a quarter said they did not speak out over fears of losing their visa.
“Four per cent of participants indicated that someone in their workplace had threatened to report them to the immigration department,” the report found. “This included 92 temporary migrants (3%) who had been threatened by their employer or a manager, which was likely calculated to induce compliance with particular work conditions and/or to deter complaint.”
Other exploitative practices included requiring 5% of survey respondents to pay 'deposits' to their employers for giving them a job during their time in Australia, which they were told would be returned at the end of their tenure. A further 194 participants also said they paid a potentially unlawful training or other fee to their employer, with some paying more than AUS$900 (US$650).
The Unions New South Wales secretary Mark Morey told The Guardian that migrant exploitation was a “national shame” and called for a deportation amnesty for foreign workers while cases of workplace exploitation were investigated.
“All too often the people cleaning our offices, serving our meals or working a service station cash register are illegally ripped off,” he said.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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Almost a third of international students, backpackers and other temporary migrants to Australia are earning AUS$12 (US$ 8.65) an hour or less, about half of the national minimum wage.
The survey found large-scale underpayment was worst in fruit and vegetable-picking and farm work, where 15% of workers earned AUS$5 (US$ 3.61) an hour or less. Nearly a third (31%) earned AUS $10 (US$ 7.21) an hour or less.
The findings were published in the report ‘Wage Theft in Australia’, authored by senior law lecturers Bassina Farbenblum from the University of New South Wales, and Laurie Berg from the University of Technology Sydney. Their analysis also revealed that for every 100 underpaid migrant workers, only three complained about their situation to the fair work ombudsman. But of those that did, more than half recovered nothing as a result.
“The study dispelled the misconception that temporary migrants are underpaid because they are unaware of minimum wage rates in Australia,” the report said. “Though they may not have known their precise entitlements, the overwhelming majority who earned AUS$15 (US$ 10.82) or less knew that the legal minimum wage was higher.”
But the workers also believed that few people on their kind of visa could expect to receive the minimum wage under Australian labour law, it added.
They likewise experienced a number of barriers to reporting wage-theft, Farbenblum and Berg found. Many workers were either unsure of the process or believed it would be too difficult to recover what they were owed. More than a quarter said they did not speak out over fears of losing their visa.
“Four per cent of participants indicated that someone in their workplace had threatened to report them to the immigration department,” the report found. “This included 92 temporary migrants (3%) who had been threatened by their employer or a manager, which was likely calculated to induce compliance with particular work conditions and/or to deter complaint.”
Other exploitative practices included requiring 5% of survey respondents to pay 'deposits' to their employers for giving them a job during their time in Australia, which they were told would be returned at the end of their tenure. A further 194 participants also said they paid a potentially unlawful training or other fee to their employer, with some paying more than AUS$900 (US$650).
The Unions New South Wales secretary Mark Morey told The Guardian that migrant exploitation was a “national shame” and called for a deportation amnesty for foreign workers while cases of workplace exploitation were investigated.
“All too often the people cleaning our offices, serving our meals or working a service station cash register are illegally ripped off,” he said.
Emma Woollacott is a freelance business journalist. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including the Guardian, the Times, Forbes and the BBC.
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