Pocket money for a 13 year old in Ireland
A teenager. Thirteen is where a pocket wage starts to be compared to what friends earn, and it holds up.
A 13 year old in Ireland earns
€8.05an hour
About €34.21 a week if they do 4¼ hours of paid jobs. That's 56.9% of the minimum wage in Ireland.
Worked out from Workplace Relations Commission — National Minimum Wage, rates from 1 January 2026.
The rate at every age in Ireland.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in Ireland.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 16, the legal minimum in Ireland is €9.91 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and a kid's age picks the spot on it.
What a 13 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.
Thirteen year olds can do adult jobs at adult quality: the full weekly clean, all the family washing, cooking most nights if they want the hours, and skilled outdoor work like pressure washing and weeding beds. Ninety-minute jobs are fine. In some countries they can also start light paid work outside the home at this age, usually with no minimum wage protection, which makes the pocket wage a useful yardstick: is that job paying less than the rate at home?
This is also the age to start talking about where the rate comes from. Show them the junior wage table for your country. A thirteen year old who knows what a fifteen year old legally earns is already planning.
The payslip at 13
Jobs, pay, interest, locked savings, and the balance split between spendable and locked. Show the year-to-date total: thirteen year olds are impressed by big numbers they earned.
The Jobs Board at age 13, €8.05 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Do the full weekly clean | 1 hr 30 min | €12.08 |
| Do all the family washing | 1 hr | €8.05 |
| Cook dinner for the week's busiest night | 45 min | €6.04 |
| Weed and tidy the garden beds | 1 hr | €8.05 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in Ireland.
Ireland's national minimum wage is set by the government each January on the advice of the Low Pay Commission. Workers under 18 are entitled to 70% of the adult rate, 18 year olds to 80%, and 19 year olds to 90%, with the full rate at 20.
Pocket Wage anchors on the under-18 rate at sixteen and draws a straight line back to zero. From sixteen the site shows the real statutory rates. When the rate changes each January, every age on this site moves with it.
Children can do light work from 14 during school holidays and from 15 in term time, with limits on hours. The under-18 minimum wage applies to any employed young person.
Source: Workplace Relations Commission — National Minimum Wage, rates from 1 January 2026.
Questions parents ask about 13 year olds.
How much should a thirteen year old get paid for chores?
The rate on this page, for about four and a half hours of jobs a week. It is scaled from the country's minimum wage, so it rises with the law and with every birthday.
Can a thirteen year old work outside the home?
In some countries, light work like a paper round is allowed from thirteen, often with no minimum wage attached. Compare what it pays to their pocket wage before they take it.
Should teenagers be paid for chores at all?
Family Duties, no. The Jobs Board, yes: it is real work, priced by the time it should take, and it is the apprenticeship for the paid job that is one or two years away.
What is the minimum wage for a 16 year old in Ireland?
70% of the adult national minimum wage, the rate for anyone under 18. It is shown on our 16 year old page from the official source, and it is the anchor for every younger age here.
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.