Korean, Chinese and Spanish-speaking workers are routinely paid below minimum wage as part of a "seedy underbelly of wage theft", a report from Unions NSW claims.
An audit of 200 job ads, conducted in 2016 and 2017, on Korean-language website Hojunara, Chinese website Sydney Today and a number of Spanish-language Facebook pages, found nearly four out of five (78 per cent) advertising below the minimum award wage.
They included a serving and kitchen aid at a Korean restaurant in Strathfield in the city's inner west paying $13 an hour, a position advertised in Chinese for warehouse work in the western suburb of Smithfield paying $16 an hour, and a position advertised in Spanish for a cleaner paying $15 to $20 an hour.
"This is wage theft on a massive scale. And it's being perpetrated against people ill-equipped to fight back," Unions NSW Secretary Mark Morey said in a statement.
"Migrants often know they are being ripped off but lack the language skills, confidence and support to stand up for their rights. Often migrant workers are threatened, or must consider how a complaint will affect their visa or residency status."