The living wage campaign has upped its rate to $20.55 an hour.

"It's the amount that workers need to survive and participate in society," convener Annie Newman told The AM Show on Thursday.

The voluntary rate has been adopted by around 90 employers so far. The biggest, and first corporate employer, is Vector. The Warehouse promised to years ago, but bailed.

"They could afford to it, but they chose not to," said Ms Newman. "They constrained it by saying you had to work 5000 hours or three years before you could get it .You could do a lot of churn and burn on people on less than that, especially young people."