Award rates are national, so the legal minimum for a role is identical in Adelaide and Sydney. Three things do change at the border, and one of them costs more than employers expect.
Start with what does not change, because it saves a lot of wasted searching: modern award minimums are national. An electrician's award floor is $32.19 an hour whether the job is in Adelaide, Whyalla or Parramatta. Anyone offering you South Australian award rates is describing something that does not exist.
What genuinely changes is the employer's on-costs and obligations. There are three.
Payroll tax threshold
$1.5m
Australian wages, before any payroll tax applies
Workers compensation
1.85%
ReturnToWorkSA scheme average, varies by industry
Public holidays
16
The most of any Australian state or territory
South Australia's threshold is $1.5 million in Australian wages. Below that you pay none. Between $1.5 million and $1.7 million the rate tapers from zero up to 4.95 per cent, and above $1.7 million it is 4.95 per cent. The maximum annual deduction is $600,000.
That threshold is more generous than New South Wales at $1.2 million, Victoria and Western Australia at $1 million, and Tasmania at $1.25 million. For a small employer adding one or two people it usually means payroll tax simply does not arise, which is worth confirming before you build it into a budget.
RevenueSA, payroll tax rates and thresholds, financial year 2026-27. Checked 27 July 2026. Thresholds are based on Australian wages across all states, not just SA wages, so a business operating interstate should check how grouping applies to it.
South Australia has a centralised scheme rather than a competitive insurance market, so your premium is set by industry classification rather than shopped between insurers. The scheme average is about 1.85 per cent of wages, and your own rate can sit well above or below that depending on the work.
Two details that catch people out. It is calculated on wages plus superannuation, not wages alone, so the figure is larger than a quick estimate suggests. And it is a scheme average, not a quote: get your actual rate from ReturnToWorkSA rather than budgeting on the average.
This is the one that surprises employers, and it is a genuine ongoing cost rather than a one-off.
| State | Public holidays | Paid hours at 7.6 per day |
|---|---|---|
| South Australia | 16 | 121.6 |
| Northern Territory | 16 | 121.6 |
| Victoria, Queensland, ACT | 15 | 114.0 |
| New South Wales, WA, Tasmania | 14 | 106.4 |
On an electrician at the award floor of $32.19, sixteen public holidays is $3,914 of paid time. In New South Wales the same employee's fourteen days come to $3,425. The difference is about $489 a year per employee, and it scales with every head you add.
Public holiday counts from the Fair Work Ombudsman 2027 list, checked 27 July 2026. These are the days the FWO lists; several states have additional regional days that do not appear, so treat these as a baseline. Hours shown at 7.6 per day, the standard full-time day under a 38 hour week.
A full-time electrician at the award floor in South Australia costs about $73,535 a year against a wage of $63,607, once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are counted. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top of the wage, with payroll tax at nil for an employer under the threshold.
The full line-by-line arithmetic, and what changes once you are over the payroll tax threshold, is on what an employee really costs in Australia. To run it on your own rate and state, use the employee cost calculator.
Each of these has its own page covering what the role costs to employ, the current market band and the licences that gate it.
Beyond the trades we also fill warehousing and operations, office and administration, supervisors, managers and executives. The pay checker covers seventeen roles with their award floor and market band.
A note on licences crossing the border. Some are national and some are not, and it matters when someone moves to South Australia for work. A refrigerant handling licence is a federal scheme and travels with the person. Electrical and plumbing licences are issued by each state regulator, so a licence held interstate is not automatically valid here and usually needs recognition before the person can legally do the work.
That distinction is worth checking before you make an offer to someone relocating, not after.
Hiring in South Australia?
GET MY SHORTLISTTerms first, then names. You pay nothing until your hire starts.
No. Modern award minimums are national, so the legal floor for a role is identical in Adelaide and every other Australian city. What changes by state is the market rate, the employer on-costs and the licensing paperwork.
$1.5 million in Australian wages. Between $1.5 million and $1.7 million the rate tapers from zero to 4.95 per cent, and above $1.7 million it is 4.95 per cent, with a maximum annual deduction of $600,000. That threshold is higher than New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania.
The ReturnToWorkSA scheme average is about 1.85 per cent of wages, though your own rate depends on your industry classification and can sit well above or below it. It is calculated on wages plus superannuation, which makes it larger than a quick estimate suggests.
Sixteen on the Fair Work Ombudsman list, the most of any state, matched only by the Northern Territory. For a full-time employee that is 121.6 paid hours, about two days more than New South Wales, Western Australia or Tasmania.
It depends on the licence. Refrigerant handling is a federal scheme and travels with the person. Electrical and plumbing licences are issued by each state regulator, so a licence held interstate is not automatically valid here and generally needs recognition first. Check before making an offer to someone relocating.
For a full-time electrician at the award floor, about $73,535 a year against a $63,607 wage once superannuation, leave loading and workers compensation are added, with payroll tax at nil below the threshold. That is roughly 15.6 per cent on top of the wage.