What does an electrical apprentice get paid in 2026?
Electrical apprentices are paid under the Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award. These are its hourly rates for ordinary hours from 1 July 2026, for apprentices who started on or after 1 January 2014, which is everyone starting now.
| Year | Under 21, no Year 12 | Under 21, Year 12 | Adult, 21 or over |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st year | $16.39 | $17.97 | $25.87 |
| 2nd year | $19.55 | $21.13 | $28.90 |
| 3rd year | $22.71 | $22.71 | $28.90 |
| 4th year | $26.50 | $26.50 | $28.90 |
The award says each rate "includes the industry allowance, tool allowance and electricians licence allowance payable to all employees for all purposes", so these are the full hourly figures, not a base with allowances to add. Overtime, weekends and shifts have their own tables in Schedule B.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Electrical, Electronic and Communications Contracting Award 2020 [MA000025], Schedule B.4.1 and B.4.5, read 25 October 2026.
They come from percentages of the Electrical worker grade 5 rate, $1,119.10 a week. A junior apprentice who hasn't finished Year 12 gets 50%, 60%, 70% and 82% across the four years, and one who has gets 55% and 65% for the first two years.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000025, clauses 16.2 and 16.4, read 25 October 2026.
Under an enterprise agreement? These are the award rates. Fair Work says "An award won’t apply if an enterprise agreement applies to employees in a workplace", and the agreement's base pay rate "can’t be less than the base pay rate in the award". If your business has one, pay its rates, never less than the table above.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, About agreements, read 25 October 2026.
Who counts as an adult apprentice?
The award's definition is "a person of 21 years of age or over at the time of entering into a training contract". It's their age when they sign, so an apprentice who turns 21 in second year stays on the junior rates. An adult apprentice gets 80% of the grade 5 rate in first year, then the Electrical worker grade 1 rate.
One more rule if you're signing up someone already on your books. If they've worked for you for at least 6 months full time, or 12 months part time or as a regular casual, their pay "must not suffer a reduction" when they start the apprenticeship.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000025, clauses 2 and 16.4(b), read 25 October 2026.
Apprentice rates only apply with a formal training contract registered with your state's training authority. Fair Work says an employee "can only be paid apprentice pay rates if they have a formal training contract with their employer".
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, Apprentice and trainee pay rates, read 25 October 2026.
Are TAFE days paid?
Yes. Clause 12.4 says time at training or assessment under the training contract "is to be regarded as time worked for the employer". A day at TAFE is a paid day, and it's a day they're not on your job.
You pay for the course too. Within 6 months of the apprenticeship or stage starting, or 3 months after the training starts if that's later, you reimburse "all fees paid by the apprentice" less any government refund, plus prescribed textbooks, unless their progress is unsatisfactory. Paying the TAFE directly counts. If block release means an overnight stay, you also pay the excess reasonable travel costs.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000025, clauses 12.4, 12.5 and 12.8, read 25 October 2026.
What does an apprentice really cost you an hour?
What an apprentice hour costs you
The award rate by year, then super, workers comp and TAFE fees over the hours they're actually on your jobs. Every box with a number is yours to change. Everything stays in this browser.
You pay $17.97 an hour. Counted over the hours you can bill, each one costs you $33.31, about 1.9 times the pay rate.
Work out what to charge them out at →An estimate from the award's hourly rates (Schedule B.4, from 1 July 2026, read 25 October 2026), its 17.5% loading on four weeks' annual leave and the ATO's 12% super guarantee, paid on the loading too. The TAFE days, weeks off, workers comp rate, fees and non-billable share are examples, put in your own from your RTO's timetable and your insurer. It leaves out overtime and payroll tax, and counts a government incentive only when you pick one. Not tax advice and not financial advice, check pay with Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool before you rely on it.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Super guarantee, read 25 October 2026.
Annual leave is four weeks a year under the National Employment Standards, and the award adds a loading on top when they take it, "an annual leave loading of 17.5% of the payment under clause 21.2". Super is paid on that loading as well, because the ATO counts annual leave loading as ordinary time earnings unless it's clearly linked to lost overtime.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000025, clause 21.4(a), read 25 October 2026.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, List of payments that are ordinary time earnings, read 25 October 2026.
The government pays some of it back. If the apprentice's qualification is on the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, you may get a Priority Hiring Incentive of "up to $2,500 in the first year of an apprenticeship", $1,000 at 6 months and $1,500 at 12 months full time, half that part time. If it leads to housing construction or new energy work and you give them real work in that sector, the Key Apprenticeship Program pays up to $5,000 instead, $2,000 at 6 months and $3,000 at 12. Which one turns on the exact qualification, so check it on the Priority List Explorer or ask your Apprentice Connect Australia Provider, then pick it in the calculator.
Source: Australian Apprenticeships, Financial support for employers, read 25 October 2026.
The pay rate is only part of it. A day at TAFE, a week of leave and an hour spent sweeping up are all paid, and none of them can go on an invoice. That's why the cost of an hour you can bill comes out well above the rate on the payslip, even before their ute time and your supervision.
What should you charge an apprentice out at?
Start from the cost an hour you can bill, not the pay rate. The link under the calculator carries that cost into the hourly rate calculator, which adds your margin and overheads. Charge a first year apprentice at what their hour costs you plus your margin, and treat what they learn as the investment, not the job's profit.
Supervision is a cost too. Every hour you spend checking their work is an hour you're not billing, so price jobs with an apprentice as a team, not as two separate rates.
Where employers get it wrong
In May 2026 the Fair Work Ombudsman reported on 15 months of checks on building and construction employers of apprentices and trainees. Of 76 investigations where it could decide, 68% were "non-compliant with workplace laws", and it recovered $415,943 for underpaid workers.
The most common breaches were underpaid hourly rates, overtime and annual leave, "wages not paid for time worked", and "failing to reimburse training costs". The last two are the TAFE rules above. The same release mentions a $73,242 court penalty against a Canberra electrical contracting business and its director, over breaches that affected two workers, one a junior apprentice aged 18.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, FWO here to help building and construction apprentices, 8 May 2026, read 25 October 2026.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman, 2025 to 2026 litigation outcomes, Canberra Electrical Solutions Pty Ltd, 30 January 2026, read 25 October 2026.
Pay TAFE days as worked days and repay the fees inside the 6 months, and you've dodged two of the three most common breaches. If you've got under 15 employees, Fair Work's Employer Advisory Service gives eligible small businesses free written advice on pay.
Quote and invoice the jobs your apprentice works onYamate sells software to tradies. This guide and its calculator are free and ask for nothing.
Related
General information, not tax advice and not legal advice. Wage figures are the award's published minimums and the calculator is an estimate. You pay your staff and lodge your own tax. Check the award or Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool before you rely on a figure.