Life's No Party On $300 A Week

The Age

Saturday March 15, 2008

Erin Richardson

LIVING on, or near, the minimum wage means a tough life of multiple jobs, long hours, empty fridges and budget crunching.

Ian Wilson, of the ACTU, says the federal minimum wage is $522.12 a week. About 100,000 Australians live on this wage.

But 15 industries are classified by their own award standards, which means many people live day to day on strict budgets.

Jobs included in these industry minimum wages include cleaners, retail workers, hospitality and service industry workers.

Denver Herft, 29, is a cleaner in Melbourne's CBD who earns about $300 a week. He works long hours, holding down two part-time jobs. He spends most of his money on food, petrol and housing.

"The problem is that everything is going up. Everything is getting more expensive," he said.

Mr Herft drives from his Maribyrnong home to the train station and catches public transport to work.

But even that is getting more expensive. "It's costing me about $100 a month."

On top of the long working hours and the growing financial burden of having a mortgage in a period of rising interest rates, Mr Herft's leisure time has been seriously curtailed.

"You go to the pub and that's gone up. You go to the movies, that's gone up. You go to the footy and that's gone up too. It's hard to enjoy yourself on the lower wage," he said.

"I'm a bachelor, and I'm feeling the pressure. How am I supposed to have a family on these kind of wages?"

Mr Wilson said that one of the major myths about minimum wage earners was that they were supplementary income earners.

He said the situation of the minimum wage earner like Mr Herft was not unusual.

"Cleaners are often working more than 40 hours a week," he said. "Usually they work part-time, so they will be holding down two or three jobs at a time.

"It might be that when pay day comes around . . . the fridge is empty."

Mr Herft agrees that working as a cleaner is a tough life.

"You are working all the time, like robots," he said.

"And the wage remains low, while everything else is going up."