Allowance by age in Northwest Territories.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in Northwest Territories, $17.20 an hour. Not a number anyone made up.
An 8 year old in Northwest Territories earns
$9.83an hour
About $24.58 a week if they do 2½ hours of paid jobs. That's 57.2% of the minimum wage in Northwest Territories.
Worked out from Government of Canada — Minimum Wage Database, rates from September 1, 2026.
It's not a number we made up.
Every age from 5 to 17, worked out from the real minimum wage in Northwest Territories, $17.20 an hour. Not a number anyone made up.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 14, the legal minimum in Northwest Territories is $17.20 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, $9.83 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum the living areas | 20 min | $3.28 |
| Empty every bin in the house | 10 min | $1.64 |
| Hang out a load of washing | 15 min | $2.46 |
| Put the groceries away | 15 min | $2.46 |
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 September 1, 2026.
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 in Northwest Territories ask.
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.
Is there a youth minimum wage in Canada?
Only in Ontario and Alberta, which have student rates for under-18s working part time. Everywhere else a working teenager is owed the general minimum wage from their first shift.
Why does the allowance differ by province?
Because the minimum wage does. Pocket Wage is anchored to the real wage where you live, so a kid in British Columbia earns more an hour than one in Saskatchewan, exactly as their parents would.
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.