Pocket money for a 9 year old in Ireland
At nine the jobs start to look like the ones you do, and the rate has climbed enough to be worth planning around.
A 9 year old in Ireland earns
€5.57an hour
About €16.71 a week if they do 3 hours of paid jobs. That's 39.4% 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 9 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.
Nine year olds can wash the car, clean the bathroom mirror and sink, cook a simple breakfast for the family, and rake the leaves. Half-hour jobs are fine. They are also old enough for the timer game: race the standard time and see the effective hourly rate go up when they beat it. That is the first time most kids understand what efficiency means.
Watch for the moment they ask what a job is worth before agreeing to do it. That is not greed. It is exactly what a working adult does, and it means the model is working.
The payslip at 9
Jobs, pay, interest if you pay it, balance. Nine year olds can be shown last week's payslip next to this one and asked what changed.
The Jobs Board at age 9, €5.57 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Wash the car | 30 min | €2.79 |
| Clean the bathroom mirror and sink | 15 min | €1.39 |
| Make breakfast for the family | 20 min | €1.86 |
| Rake the leaves | 30 min | €2.79 |
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 9 year olds.
Is nine old enough to earn by the hour?
Yes. The rate is scaled to their age, so an hour of a nine year old's work pays less than an hour of a fifteen year old's. That is how junior wages work in the real economy too.
How do I stop them rushing the job badly?
A job is not done until it is done properly, and it does not pay until it is done. Standard time rewards speed, but the parent still signs it off.
Can they propose their own jobs?
They should. A kid who spots that the garage needs sweeping and asks what it pays is doing exactly what the system is for. You set the standard time; it joins the board.
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.