Pocket money for a 6 year old in New Zealand
At six the jobs get a little longer and the money becomes something they can plan with.
A 6 year old in New Zealand earns
$7.19an hour
About $12.58 a week if they do 1¾ hours of paid jobs. That's 30% 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 6 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.
Six year olds can hold a job that has steps: set the whole table, not just carry the forks. Water the plants on the deck. Sort the recycling. Ten-minute jobs are now realistic, and a six year old will happily race the standard time once they understand that finishing faster does not cut the pay.
This is also the age to introduce the idea of saving up. Not a savings rate or a rule, just a thing they want that costs three paydays, and the discovery that it arrives if they wait.
The payslip at 6
Jobs done and what they paid, plus a running balance. Six year olds like watching the balance climb toward something.
The Jobs Board at age 6, $7.19 an hour
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Set the whole table | 10 min | $1.20 |
| Water the plants | 10 min | $1.20 |
| Sort the recycling | 10 min | $1.20 |
| Make your bed properly | 5 min | $0.60 |
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 6 year olds.
What should a six year old spend pocket money on?
Whatever they like, within the family's rules. The wage is theirs because they earned it. Talk about choices; do not veto them, or the money stops feeling earned.
Should pocket money be tied to chores at six?
Some of it. Family Duties, like clearing their plate, are unpaid because belonging is not billable. The Jobs Board is paid because it is work someone else would otherwise do.
How much is a ten-minute job worth?
One sixth of the hourly rate, every time. Standard-time pricing means the job pays for the time it should take, so a fast six year old earns more per minute, not less.
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.