What bartenders and waiters earn in Sydney in 2026: the award grade for each job, priced by day, and why salary sites quote less
A casual bartender or waiter in a Sydney pub is Level 2 under the Hospitality Award: $33.85 an hour on a weekday and $47.39 on a Sunday in 2026. Here's the grade for each job, a Thursday to Sunday week priced line by line, and why salary sites quote about $25.
A casual bartender in a Sydney pub earns at least $33.85 an hour on a weekday and $47.39 on a Sunday in 2026. Salary sites say about $25. Neither figure is a typo: one is what the Hospitality Award says you're owed, the other is an average of what people typed into a survey.
Behind the gap is a grade. Pour a beer or carry a plate to a table and the award puts you on Level 2, not Level 1, and then each day of the week has its own rate. Here's the grade for each job behind the bar and on the floor, what it pays by day, and a real Thursday to Sunday priced line by line.
Quick answer: under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009), a bartender or waiter in a pub, hotel or bar is food and beverage attendant grade 2, paid at Level 2: $27.08 an hour base, or $33.85 as a casual. A casual gets $40.62 on a Saturday, $47.39 on a Sunday and $67.70 on a public holiday. Adult minimum rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, before tax and super. General information, not legal or financial advice.
Your duties set your grade, not your job title
Schedule A of the award doesn't use the word bartender. It lists duties. Grade 1 (Level 1) is picking up glasses, clearing plates, setting and wiping tables, and helping higher grades "not including service to customers". The moment you serve a customer, you've left grade 1.
Grade 2 (Level 2) covers "supplying, dispensing and mixing liquor", working the bottle shop, "general waiting duties for food or beverages", taking money, and greeting and seating guests. Grade 3 (Level 3) adds any one of: mixing a range of sophisticated drinks, attending a gaming or wagering terminal, full control of a cellar, or training and supervising lower grades. A food and beverage supervisor, who runs the staff or the stock for a bar, is Level 5. Our plain-English guide to MA000009 levels covers every stream.
What each job pays by day as a casual
Casuals get a 25% loading on every hour, then the penalty for the day replaces it: 150% on a Saturday, 175% on a Sunday and 250% on a public holiday (Table 14). On a weeknight you keep the 125% and add a flat $2.95 an hour from 7pm to midnight, or $4.42 from midnight to 7am. Only the highest penalty applies to any one hour.
| Job | Award grade | Weekday | Weeknight (7pm to midnight) | Saturday | Sunday | Public holiday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glassie (glasses and tables only, no serving) | F&B attendant grade 1, Level 1 | $33.05 | $36.00 | $39.66 | $46.27 | $66.10 |
| Bartender (pouring beer, wine, basic mixers) | F&B attendant grade 2, Level 2 | $33.85 | $36.80 | $40.62 | $47.39 | $67.70 |
| Waiter or floor staff (table service, taking payment) | F&B attendant grade 2, Level 2 | $33.85 | $36.80 | $40.62 | $47.39 | $67.70 |
| Cocktail bartender, or running the pokies room | F&B attendant grade 3, Level 3 | $34.96 | $37.91 | $41.96 | $48.95 | $69.93 |
| Bar supervisor (runs staff or bar stock) | F&B supervisor, Level 5 | $39.13 | $42.08 | $46.95 | $54.78 | $78.25 |
Those are minimums, and the award doesn't change from state to state, so Surry Hills pays the same floor as Brisbane. One catch for waiters: a mainly eat-in restaurant or cafe is on the Restaurant Industry Award (MA000119), where a Level 2 casual's Sunday is 150%, or $40.62. We set out that difference in Restaurant Award penalty rates in 2026.
Put a Level 2 bartender on Level 1 and price Sunday at the permanent 150%, and you lose $7.73 an hour: $61.84 over an 8-hour Sunday.
A Thursday to Sunday bartender week, priced line by line
Take a grade 2 casual bartender in a Sydney pub doing four shifts, 29 hours worked. Watch Friday: the hour after midnight is Saturday, so it pays the Saturday rate, not the night rate.
| Shift | Hours worked | How it's paid | Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 5pm to 11pm | 6 | 2 hours at $33.85, 4 hours at $36.80 | $214.90 |
| Friday, 5:30pm to 1am (unpaid meal break 6:30pm to 7pm) | 7 | 1 hour at $33.85, 5 hours at $36.80, 1 hour at $40.62 | $258.47 |
| Saturday, 3pm to 11:30pm (30-minute unpaid meal break) | 8 | 8 hours at $40.62 | $324.96 |
| Sunday, 11am to 7:30pm (30-minute unpaid meal break) | 8 | 8 hours at $47.39 | $379.12 |
| Week | 29 | $1,177.45 |
On top of that, the venue pays super at 12% of your ordinary earnings into your fund, about $141 for this week. Paid as Level 1 at the flat weekday rate, the same 29 hours come to $958.45, which is $219 short. At PayScale's $25.15 median it would be $729.35.
Why salary sites quote less
This part is our reading of the pages, not an official finding. As of November 2026, PayScale lists a Bartender at AU$25.15 an hour "in 2026" from 132 profiles, with the bottom 10% on $18.43. Its Bartender, Hotel page says AU$21.55 from 10 profiles last updated in December 2024, and Waiter/Waitress says AU$19.91. The national minimum wage has been $26.44 since 1 July 2026, so all three medians sit under the legal floor for an adult.
- They report base pay. PayScale labels its number "Avg. Base Hourly Rate". A casual's 25% loading and weekend penalties are where most of a bartender's pay sits, and a base figure leaves them out.
- The data is old and thin. Ten profiles from 2024 can't reflect two wage rises since, including 1 July 2026.
- Self-reports include underpayment. If people on cash or below-award rates fill in the survey, their numbers drag the average down. A low median can be evidence of wage theft, not a market rate.
- One title, many jobs. "Bartender" mixes juniors, part-timers, other awards and enterprise agreements into one average.
Use salary sites to compare jobs, never to check a payslip. The award is the floor; a venue can pay above it but not below.
How to check your grade against your duties
- List what you did on your last three shifts. Pouring, taking orders, running the till and seating guests are all grade 2.
- Look for one grade 3 duty. Making a cocktail list, signing in punters on the gaming floor, running the cellar or training new starters can each move you to Level 3.
- Find the classification on your payslip. A payslip must show your pay rates, and many name the level. Our post on the 28 venues Fair Work checked shows the two lines to read first.
- Price a shift yourself. Use the table above or the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool, and compare it to what landed.
- Raise it in writing. Ask your manager which grade you're on and why. If that goes nowhere, the Fair Work Ombudsman can help.
Finding more of the shifts that pay
Knowing the rate is half of it. The other half is getting the Friday and Sunday shifts where the rate is highest, and our guide on how to get more shifts as a casual in Sydney covers that side.
Shiftly is free rostering for venues with an on-demand staffing network built in, so when a venue can't fill a shift, workers on the network get offered it nearby. On-Demand is a different arrangement from a casual job: you work as an independent contractor engaged by the venue, so the award grades above are your rights as an employee, not a description of On-Demand pay. You see the venue, the hours and the rate before you accept, super is added on top, an 8% worker fee comes off, and you get paid fast. Shiftly On-Demand is available along the east coast of Australia. Find shifts on Shiftly.
Frequently asked questions
How much do bartenders make in Australia?
An adult bartender on the Hospitality Award is usually Level 2: $27.08 an hour as a full-timer or part-timer and $33.85 as a casual, from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. A casual gets $40.62 on a Saturday, $47.39 on a Sunday and $67.70 on a public holiday. A cocktail bartender on Level 3 gets $34.96 on a weekday as a casual.
What is the Level 2 hospitality pay rate for a casual?
$33.85 an hour Monday to Friday, $36.80 from 7pm to midnight on a weeknight, $40.62 on a Saturday, $47.39 on a Sunday and $67.70 on a public holiday, under MA000009 from 1 July 2026. These are adult minimums before tax and super.
Is a bartender Level 1 or Level 2?
Level 2. Schedule A of the award puts "supplying, dispensing and mixing liquor" in food and beverage attendant grade 2. Level 1 is for duties like collecting glasses and wiping tables that don't involve serving customers.
How much does a waiter earn in Australia?
A casual waiter is usually Level 2 at $33.85 an hour on a weekday under either the Hospitality or the Restaurant Award. Weekends differ: in a pub or hotel a casual gets $47.39 on a Sunday, while in a mainly eat-in restaurant on the Restaurant Award it's $40.62 until Level 3.
Co-founder of Shiftly. Milan works with hospitality businesses across Australia to make rostering, timesheets and award-based pay radically simpler.
