Allowance for an 8 year old in Canada
Eight is the sweet spot. Old enough to do a proper job unsupervised, young enough to think a vacuum cleaner is exciting.
An 8 year old in Canada earns
$9.49an hour
About $23.73 a week if they do 2½ hours of paid jobs. That's 53.9% of the minimum wage in Canada.
Worked out from Government of Canada — Minimum Wage Database, rates from October 1, 2025.
The rate at every age in Canada.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in Canada.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 14, the legal minimum in Canada is $16.60 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and a kid's age picks the spot on it.
What an 8 year old can do, and what it pays.
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.
An eight year old can vacuum the living areas, empty every bin in the house, hang out a load of washing and put the groceries away. Twenty-minute jobs are realistic. They are also old enough to read their own payslip and check your arithmetic, which you should encourage.
The big idea to land at eight is the difference between Family Duties and the Jobs Board. Clearing your plate is being part of the family. Vacuuming the lounge is a job, and jobs pay. Eight year olds find this distinction fair, which is more than most adults manage.
The payslip at 8
Jobs, pay and balance, and an optional line for interest if the parent is playing the bank. Eight is a good age to see money make money.
The Jobs Board at age 8, $9.49 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum the living areas | 20 min | $3.16 |
| Empty every bin in the house | 10 min | $1.58 |
| Hang out a load of washing | 15 min | $2.37 |
| Put the groceries away | 15 min | $2.37 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in Canada.
Canada's minimum wage is set by each province and territory, not nationally, and most of them index it to inflation once a year. There is generally no youth rate: a fourteen year old with a job is owed the same minimum wage as an adult, with the exception of Ontario's and Alberta's student rates for under-18s working part time.
Pocket Wage anchors on the province's minimum wage at fourteen, the youngest age most provinces allow ordinary work, and draws a straight line back to zero. Choose your province at the top: a kid in Nunavut and a kid in Alberta are on different ladders.
Most provinces allow ordinary work from 14, some from 12 with consent for light work. The minimum wage has no lower age limit, so a working 14 year old is owed the rate shown.
Source: Government of Canada — Minimum Wage Database, rates from October 1, 2025.
By province or territory
The rate for an 8 year old, worked out from each one's own minimum wage.
- Alberta$7.43
- British Columbia$10.43
- Manitoba$9.14
- New Brunswick$9.09
- Newfoundland and Labrador$9.34
- Northwest Territories$9.83
- Nova Scotia$9.57
- Nunavut$11.53
- Ontario$9.49
- Prince Edward Island$9.71
- Quebec$9.49
- Saskatchewan$8.77
- Yukon$10.58
Questions parents ask about 8 year olds.
How much pocket money should an eight year old get a week?
With a pocket wage the question changes: how many hours of paid jobs, at the rate for their age? About two and a half hours a week is a sensible amount at eight. The weekly figure on this page is what that comes to.
What jobs can an eight year old do?
Anything with a clear finish that takes up to about twenty minutes: vacuuming, bins, hanging washing, putting shopping away. The Jobs Board above prices each at their rate.
Should I pay interest on their savings?
It is a good age to start. Set a rate, pay it on payday, and let them watch the line on the payslip. Pocket Wage lets a parent be the bank without any real bank involved.
How much allowance should a kid get in Canada?
The traditional rule is a dollar a week per year of age, given for nothing. Pocket Wage replaces it with a rate: your province's minimum wage, scaled to your kid's age, paid for jobs actually done.
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.