Minimum wage to increase 5.2 per cent while minimum award wages increase 4.6 per cent

The Fair Work Commission this week announced a National Minimum Wage increase of 5.2 per cent from July 1, $20.33 to $21.38 - this is an extra $40 in their pockets each week.

The modern award minimum wage will increase by 4.6 per cent in a two-phased approach.

Westvic Staffing Solutions chief executive officer Dean Luciani said cost of living stress impacted everybody with the most affected being those on low wages.

"We employ mostly apprentices so we welcome any increase to minimum wages, including the national training wage," Mr Luciani said.

"The south-west has very well run and resilient business' that have been successful because they've got good business models."

Some awards in the aviation, hospitality and tourism industries will change from October 1. Mr Luciani said this was the trend for the past two-to-three years.

"In this particular case, I believe the thinking is to give the hardest hitting industries a bit more time to adjust," he said.

Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism general manager Liz Price said many employees in the south-west in this sector were already paid above award wages.

"The challenge for the sector is that all costs are going up so that will flow onto the consumer side of things," Ms Price said.

"Power and the cost of goods and services are going up. It will be more expensive to do business which will be put onto the consumer."

Ms Price said when it came to tourism, the whole sector was understaffed.

"This significantly impacts on businesses or on when they can open," she said.

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