Almost one in five Queensland workers likely victims of wage theft

Research by the progressive McKell Institute found at least 437,000 Queenslanders, or 18 per cent of the workforce, were likely to have not been paid their full wages and entitlements, not including superannuation.

If all wage-theft victims were losing 5 per cent of their income a year, at the median wage of $55,800, that would equate to $1.2 billion in lost earnings, the report said.

At the same time, it was estimated 580,150 Queenslanders, or 23 per cent of the workforce, were likely to have been underpaid superannuation, or not paid superannuation at all, amounting to more than $1.1 billion in foregone super each year.

The average lost super of $1915 for a worker could compound over 10 years to almost $4000, which could have accrued to more than $70,000 over an employee's working life.

However, it was likely the people who were "regular" wage theft victims and superannuation victims would overlap extensively, the McKell report said.

Wage theft was most prevalent in retail, hospitality, fast food, convenience stores, petrol stations, cleaning, fruit and vegetable picking work, and trade apprenticeships, but occurred throughout the economy.

The report said wage theft happened for several reasons, including employees being unaware of their rights, declining level of unionisation and rising levels of insecure work.

Reported cases often involved vulnerable employees, such as young people, people with a disability, migrants and international students.

McKell Institute Queensland executive director Marianna O'Gorman said the results were striking.

"There have been few attempts to quantify the economic impact of wage theft in Australia and none to date in Queensland," she said.

"But we need to open our eyes to just how widespread and damaging the problem is.

"Wage theft eats directly into the disposable income of workers, reducing aggregate demand and tax revenue and ultimately constraining growth across the state."

The report found wage theft was occurring in numerous ways, including pressuring workers not to claim overtime or take paid meal breaks, or not paying staff current award wages.

"The non-payment of superannuation is particularly prevalent as it is harder for workers to monitor and therefore report," Ms O'Gorman said.

"Unfortunately, this type of wage theft has the worst impact, undermining the sense of financial security that most hard-working Australians place in our superannuation system."

Ms O'Gorman said wage theft often went unnoticed and unpunished.

"But it undermines the tenets of Australia's sense of fairness," she said.

"It is also unfair to the majority of Queensland businesses that act ethically and comply with the law.

"It puts those businesses that do the right thing by workers at an unfair disadvantage.

"It often impacts those in our community who are already vulnerable and struggling to make ends meet."

At a Labor Day rally in May, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she would launch a parliamentary inquiry to examine bosses who rip off their employees.

The Education, Employment and Small Business Committee is due to release its report from the wage theft inquiry on Friday, November 16.