Australia's minimum wage will increase by 5.97 per cent, and minimum award workers will get a 4.75 per cent pay boost, in the Fair Work Commission's (FWC) annual wage review.The new national minimum wage will be $26.44 per hour (up from $24.95), and $1,004.90 per week (up from $948), based on a full-time 38-hour week. The pay increase will begin from July 1 The pay increases will affect millions of low-paid workers.While the national minimum wage covers a very small proportion of the workforce, roughly 21 per cent of all employees in Australia are paid at a minimum award rate, amounting to almost 2.8 million people.According to the FWC, because of the part-time and low-paid characteristics of the modern award-reliant workforce, the wages paid to them constitute only about 11.2 per cent of the national "wage bill".Workers who are reliant on award wages are disproportionately female, more than two-thirds work part-time hours, more than a half are casual employees, and more than a third are low-paid.Four industry sectors — accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, retail trade, and administrative and support services — account for more than two-thirds of all modern award-reliant employees.Each year, the FWC takes submissions from government, business groups and unions before making its own wage determination.The Albanese government had pushed for an above-inflation pay rise for the national minimum wage and modern award wages