The dream of buying a home and raising a family is now within reach of workers in the social and community sectors granted an eventual $20,000 a year pay rise.
One of them is 32-year-old Deb Batterham, one of 150,000 workers in the field, most of them women.
Although she adores her work as a researcher at a homelessness service in central Melbourne, Ms Batterham says she recently considered turning her back on it after nine years.
But a ruling from the industrial umpire granting workers in the sector increases of between 19 and 41 per cent, phased in over eight years, has encouraged her to remain.
"I'm getting to a time in my life when I'm thinking about family and I would like to be able to buy a house but on my current income that's just not feasible," Ms Batterham said.
"It (the pay rise) means I can afford to stay.
"An extra approximately $15,000 to $20,000 a year is a lot of money - that's huge."
Laura Miller, 25, works with teenagers at risk of offending, having graduated with a masters degree in social work in 2010.
"As a young worker it makes me think that I've got a lot more options for my future," she told AAP.
"Previously I thought that if I wanted to move towards buying a home or having a family I'd have to move into the government sector but now I can feel more confident that I might be able to continue my career in the community sector, which I love so much."
Ms Miller said one of the reasons she chose to work in the community sector was because she could help people in need without being limited by a large bureaucracy in a government department.
ACTU president Ged Kearney said the average worker in the community sector earned about $42,000 a year, having completed a four-year tertiary degree.
A comparable job in other industries would pay between $55,000 to $58,000, she said.
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