Pocket money for a 14 year old in New Zealand
Fourteen is a year from the real economy in most countries, and the payslip should say so.
A 14 year old in New Zealand earns
$16.77an hour
About $79.66 a week if they do 4¾ hours of paid jobs. That's 70% of the minimum wage in New Zealand.
Worked out from Employment New Zealand — Minimum wage rates and types, rates from 1 April 2026.
The rate at every age in New Zealand.
Pocket Wage is a straight line, one step every birthday, until it meets the real minimum wage. Here's the whole ladder in New Zealand.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
At 16, the legal minimum in New Zealand is $19.16 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 14 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.
At fourteen the jobs can be anything an adult does around the house, priced at the rate for a fourteen year old. Longer projects suit them: clearing out the garage, painting a fence, a deep clean of a whole floor. Two-hour jobs on a weekend, with a standard time set in advance, work well. In the United States and Canada this is already legal working age, and the pocket wage is the real minimum wage.
This is the year the household tax starts: a small slice of each payslip toward a family goal that everyone can see. Fourteen year olds understand tax the moment they see what it is buying.
The payslip at 14
Jobs, pay, interest, locked savings, household tax, and the balance. This is a full payslip: gross, deductions, net. By fourteen they can read every line and explain it back.
The Jobs Board at age 14, $16.77 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Clear out and sweep the garage | 2 hr | $33.54 |
| Paint a fence or a wall | 2 hr | $33.54 |
| Deep clean one whole floor of the house | 1 hr 30 min | $25.15 |
| Cook a full dinner and clean up | 1 hr | $16.77 |
Example jobs and times. Family Duties, like clearing your own plate, are unpaid: belonging isn't billable.
How junior wages work in New Zealand.
New Zealand sets its minimum wage every 1 April. There is no youth rate for most workers: from sixteen, a young person on the adult minimum wage is owed the full adult rate, unless they are on the starting-out rate, which is 80% of the adult wage for their first six months.
Pocket Wage anchors on the starting-out rate at sixteen, because that is what a sixteen year old's first job legally pays, and draws a straight line back to zero. From sixteen the site shows the real rates.
There is no general minimum working age in New Zealand, but children under 16 cannot work during school hours and there are safety limits. The minimum wage applies from 16.
Source: Employment New Zealand — Minimum wage rates and types, rates from 1 April 2026.
Questions parents ask about 14 year olds.
How much pocket money for a fourteen year old?
At the rate for a fourteen year old, for about four and three quarter hours of jobs a week, the weekly figure on this page. In some countries this is the real legal minimum wage, not a scaled one.
What is a household tax?
A small percentage of each payslip that goes toward something the family chooses together, like a holiday. It is the first time they see money leave a payslip for a shared purpose, which is what tax is.
Can a fourteen year old get a real job?
In the US and Canada, yes, in most kinds of work. In Australia, the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, some part-time work is allowed with restrictions. The pocket wage is designed to meet the real wage when they get there.
What is the minimum wage for a 16 year old in New Zealand?
The starting-out rate, 80% of the adult minimum, for the first six months of a job, then the adult rate. Our 16 year old page shows the official figures.
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.