Cuts to weekend penalty rates have hit Victorian women and regional workers hardest, threaten the state’s economic growth and have not created any more jobs, according to a Parliamentary report.

The State Parliament’s Penalty Rates and Fair Pay Select Committee was scathing of the effects of the cuts to Sunday penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers that began in July 2017, saying the reductions hurt the most vulnerable workers and had not achieved their stated goals.

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But Opposition MPs on the committee attacked the inquiry as a waste of taxpayers’ money designed to help the Labor Party attack the Turnbull government’s industrial relations policies.

The committee’s final report, published on Tuesday, argues there is little or no evidence that the promised benefits of the cuts – more jobs and more hours for retail and hospitality workers – have materialised.