Have you been underpaid? Wage calculator shows if your employer is ripping you off

IT’S the thought that goes through everyone’s head — are you being paid enough? Now there’s a calculator to test how fair your wage is.

IT’S the thought that goes through everyone’s head — are you being paid enough for the hours you put in?

Now the National Union of Workers has released a calculator to test how fair your wage is.

You simply fill in the hours you’ve worked, your industry and how much you have been paid, and the Underpayment Calculator will show you whether you’re earning too little.

It is part of the Fair Pay Campaign, which is aimed particularly at migrant and casual workers, who are often under-compensated.

The extent of the problem came to light this month when backpackers shared their stories of exploitation and gross underpayment, with some working for as little as $2 per hour.

Wage theft and insecure work are a major cause of poverty in Australia, with around a third of those living in poverty in employment, according to a report from the Australian Council of Social Services released last week.

There are about one million employees in Australia who form an underclass of working poor, the research shows, and many are migrants or temporary workers.

Around a third of those living in poverty are in employment.

“After the 7-Eleven scandal and the widespread wage theft that was uncovered, we felt there needed to be an easy way for workers to check their employer is doing the right thing,” said Gary Bullock, Queensland Secretary at United Voice, which has formed a Migrant Workers Union Alliance with the NUW and the Meatworkers Union.

The Fair Pay Campaign is not the only one trying to help underpaid workers. Researchers from the University of Sydney, University of NSW and University of Technology Sydney are running a survey they hope will help improve working conditions for temporary migrants in Australia.

Gregory Clarke, a backpacker working on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, told news.com.au that every traveller he is in contact with has been “massively underpaid or not paid at all”.

He added: “The working conditions and problems we have all gone through is sometimes worrying and caused many problems for backpackers, with funds running out, not being able to pay rent, not having regular work when on a farm — also being fired so we can be replaced by Asian contract workers who are paid even less than we are.

“There needs to be better regulation and better support for backpackers because it’s just us alone against these farmers and we are broken and stretched to the brink. I’m 29-year-old male who wants a second year in this beautiful country but is it really worth it after these terrible times?”

Originally published as Have you been underpaid? Wage calculator shows if your employer is ripping you off