Pocket money by age in Australia.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in Australia, $26.44 an hour, and the junior rates the law already sets. Not a number anyone made up.
An 8 year old in Australia earns
$5.19an hour
About $12.98 a week if they do 2½ hours of paid jobs. That's 19.6% of the minimum wage in Australia.
Worked out from Fair Work Ombudsman — Annual Wage Review 2026, rates from 1 July 2026.
It's not a number we made up.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in Australia, $26.44 an hour, and the junior rates the law already sets. Not a number anyone made up.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 15, the legal minimum in Australia is $9.73 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and a kid's age picks the spot on it.
The Jobs Board at age 8.
Every paid job has a standard time: how long it should take, not how long it did. Dawdle and you earn less a minute. Get good at it and you earn more. There's no timer to game and no price to haggle.
The Jobs Board at age 8, $5.19 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum the living areas | 20 min | $1.73 |
| Empty every bin in the house | 10 min | $0.87 |
| Hang out a load of washing | 15 min | $1.30 |
| Put the groceries away | 15 min | $1.30 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in Australia.
Australia's national minimum wage is set every year by the Fair Work Commission and takes effect on 1 July. For workers under 21 the law publishes junior rates as a percentage of the adult wage: 36.8% under 16, rising each birthday to the full rate at 21. A fifteen year old with a casual job is legally owed the under-16 rate, and it goes up on their sixteenth birthday whether or not their boss remembers.
Pocket Wage anchors on that under-16 rate and draws a straight line back to zero, so every age from five to fifteen sits on the same ramp the law uses from fifteen to twenty-one. From sixteen the site shows the real junior rate. When the Commission announces a new wage each June, every rate on this site changes on 1 July, and so does every kid's pocket wage: Pay-Rise Day for the whole country.
The age a child can legally work varies by state, usually 13 to 15, with lighter rules for things like delivery rounds. The junior minimum wage applies to anyone employed, whatever their age.
Source: Fair Work Ombudsman — Annual Wage Review 2026, rates from 1 July 2026.
Questions parents in Australia ask.
What is the average pocket money in Australia?
Surveys by Australian banks and kids' money apps typically find a few dollars a week at primary-school age, rising to ten or fifteen for teenagers, mostly given for nothing. A pocket wage is usually more, and all of it is earned.
Is there a minimum wage for a 14 year old in Australia?
Yes. Any employed junior is owed the under-16 junior rate, which is 36.8% of the adult minimum wage. Pocket Wage uses that as the anchor and scales it back to younger ages.
When does the minimum wage change in Australia?
Every 1 July, after the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. Every rate on this site updates the same day.
Every birthday is a pay rise.
The app runs the whole thing: the Jobs Board, the standard times, a sacred weekly payday with a payslip, and Pay-Rise Day on every birthday. No cards, no stored money. The parent is the bank.