Minimum Wage Under 15: What 13 and 14 Year Olds Get

There's no single Australian law on the minimum age you can take a paid job. Each state and territory sets its own rules, and they're surprisingly different. Parents of teenagers need to know this because "but my friend does it" is a real playground argument that often has no legal backing.

Victoria: Minimum age is 13 for most work, but with strict supervision, permit, and hours rules. For delivery work (pamphlets, newspapers) the minimum is 11. Under 15s need a Child Employment Permit issued by Wage Inspectorate Victoria.

New South Wales: No general minimum age, but for door-to-door sales the minimum is 14 years and 9 months. Entertainment work has specific permit requirements. Most employers self-impose a 14-year minimum.

Queensland: Minimum age is 13 for most "light work," but children can't do delivery work under 11, and can't do general work under 13. There are tight hour limits during school terms.

Western Australia: Minimum age is effectively 13 for non-door-to-door work with a parent's written consent. Door-to-door sales is 15. WA has the most permissive framework but also the strongest supervision rules.

South Australia: No minimum age set in legislation, but children under 16 can't be employed in a way that interferes with schooling. In practice, 13 is the effective floor for most retail and hospitality roles.

Tasmania, ACT, NT: No specified minimum age, but similar "no interference with school" principles apply. Most employers apply a 14-year minimum voluntarily.

So the idea that "you have to be 15 to work in Australia" is a myth. Plenty of 13 and 14 year olds are legally employed, especially in food delivery, newspaper rounds, family businesses, and casual retail. The question is what they can lawfully be paid.

Here's the bit that catches most parents off guard. The National Minimum Wage in Australia (currently $24.95/hr from 1 July 2025, with the next review taking effect 1 July 2026) only applies to employees aged 16 and over. For workers under 16, the federal system has no binding minimum hourly rate at all.

The Fair Work Commission explains it like this: junior rates under modern awards start at age 16 and scale upward. Because the NMW only applies where there's no award coverage, and because most under-16 work isn't picked up by award junior rate schedules in any meaningful way, there's effectively no federal floor for a 13 or 14 year old's hourly rate.

What this means in practice:

• A modern award might specify a junior rate at 15 or under (some do, most don't)
• If the award is silent, there's no federal minimum
• State laws sometimes fill the gap, sometimes don't
• Employers can legally pay under-15s very low hourly rates (we see $8-$14/hr commonly in the wild)

There are some awards that do set rates for under-16s. The General Retail Industry Award 2020 has a junior rate table that starts at 16 years and under (45% of the adult rate), but this is the exception rather than the rule. The Fast Food Industry Award 2010 similarly starts at 16 and under.

It's worth naming what's actually happening: there's a legal grey zone for under-15 workers that allows some employers to pay wages that would be unlawful for a 16 year old. Some do this deliberately. The bright side is that many awards that do specify rates have been updated to cover under-16 juniors in recent years, and more are expected to follow.

Three states have specific rules that matter most for under-15 workers.

Western Australia. WA has its own industrial system (alongside the federal one) and the state does set junior wage rates for employees not covered by federal awards. For a 13 or 14 year old in WA doing award-free work, the state minimum is roughly 40% of the adult state minimum, which works out to around $10.40-$11.20/hr in 2026. It's the closest Australia gets to an enforceable minimum for under-15s.

New South Wales. NSW doesn't have an explicit hourly minimum for 13-14 year olds in the state award system. Instead, protection comes from the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act, which regulates hours and the nature of work. No hour-based minimum wage. In practice, employers in NSW often match the WA floor or pay slightly below the retail award junior rate, depending on the industry.

Victoria. Victoria's Child Employment Act 2003 and the 2024 amendments are the strictest in the country on conditions but don't set a minimum hourly wage. What they do is require a permit for any child under 15, limit hours to 3 per day and 12 per week during school terms, and require regular breaks. Permit applications are reviewed by Wage Inspectorate Victoria (WIV).

All three states prohibit under-15s from working:

• Between 9pm and 6am
• In licensed premises during trading hours
• In roles involving alcohol, dangerous machinery, or heavy lifting
• During school hours on school days (with narrow exceptions)

A common misconception: state laws do NOT override federal awards. If a federal modern award covers the work and sets a junior rate for 15 and under, that award rate applies and is enforceable. State rules kick in only where no award applies.

Setting aside the legal theory, what do 13 and 14 year olds in Australia actually get paid? We pulled numbers from Fair Work Ombudsman complaints data, state inspectorate reports, and current job ad postings for April 2026. The picture is consistent.

Typical hourly rates for 13-14 year olds (April 2026):

• Newspaper and pamphlet delivery: $8-$12/hr (often paid per route/per bundle rather than hourly)
• Supermarket trolley collection (14 yr olds): $11-$14/hr
• Fast food crew in states that allow 14 yr olds: $12-$15/hr (below junior rate because no award coverage)
• Family business / farm work: Wildly variable, often informal
• Sports coaching and refereeing (junior sport): $15-$25/hr (some of the best rates available to this age group)
• Babysitting: $15-$25/hr (private, informal, not usually considered "employment" under the Act)
• Door-to-door sales and charity collection: Often commission-based, parents should be extremely cautious

The sports-coaching/refereeing figures are interesting. Many sporting associations set standard payment rates that are meaningfully higher than what retail pays. A 14-year-old who's refereed junior basketball or tee-ball for a season can be on $20/hr while their friends at Kmart are on $12. Worth knowing.

The federal junior rate scale for context, under awards that do specify them:

• Under 16: 45% of adult rate (around $11.23/hr at current NMW)
• Age 16: 50% of adult rate
• Age 17: 60%
• Age 18: 70%
• Age 19: 80%
• Age 20: 90%
• Age 21: 100%

Delivery work is where under-15 employment has traditionally concentrated in Australia. Newspaper rounds, junk mail distribution, catalogue drops, and now food delivery (with important limits) are the staples.

Newspaper delivery. Once a massive industry, now much smaller. Most remaining paper rounds are contracted rather than employed: the "newspaper deliverer" is an independent contractor, paid per route or per bundle. A typical round pays $20-$35 per delivery, taking 1-2 hours. On an hourly basis that works out to around $15-$25/hr, which is actually competitive. But it's 5am on a bike, so the hourly rate is earned the hard way.

Pamphlet and catalogue distribution. Still common. Usually paid per-bundle at rates of $15-$30 per 1,000 items. A decent drop of 2,000 items takes 3-4 hours and pays $30-$60. Hourly equivalent is $7-$20/hr, with a lot depending on the walking speed, geography, and honest counting.

Food delivery (Uber Eats, Menulog, DoorDash). Absolutely off-limits for under-15s. Platform terms of service require delivery partners to be 18+ (cars) or 16+ (bicycles, in some states). A 14-year-old delivering for Uber Eats is violating platform terms and likely state child employment law.

Local shop deliveries. Some local pizza shops, bakeries, and milk bars employ 14 year olds to deliver by bike or on foot in the immediate area. These are usually paid the shop's casual rate (often around $12-$15/hr without award cover). State safety laws apply: no delivery after dusk, no high-traffic areas, no deliveries involving cash handling beyond small amounts.

The Fair Work Ombudsman has increased its enforcement activity around teen delivery work since 2024. If your kid is being paid per-delivery at a rate that works out below $10/hr once counted properly, it's worth asking questions.

Even when a 13 or 14 year old is lawfully employed and paid, the conditions of their work are tightly regulated. Here's the baseline across every Australian state and territory.

Hours during school term:

• Maximum 3 hours per school day
• Maximum 12 hours per school week in most states
• No work before 6am or after 9pm
• No work during school hours on school days
• Minimum 12 hours' break between shifts

Hours during school holidays:

• Maximum 6 hours per day
• Maximum 30 hours per week
• Same no-work-after-9pm rule

Prohibited work:

• Any work involving alcohol service or licensed premises during trading
• Tobacco sales, betting, adult industries (obviously)
• Operation of industrial machinery or power tools
• Work at heights (over 2 metres)
• Work with hazardous chemicals
• Door-to-door sales under 14 in most states
• Construction work

Supervision requirements. Most states require that a 13-14 year old worker be under the direct supervision of an adult at all times while working. Not just "an adult on the premises somewhere." Direct line of sight or active monitoring.

Rest breaks. For any shift of 3 hours or more, the young worker must have at least one 10-minute paid break. For shifts over 5 hours, an additional unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes.

These rules are enforced by state inspectorates: Wage Inspectorate Victoria in VIC, NSW Fair Trading / SafeWork in NSW, Office of Industrial Relations in QLD, Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety in WA. Parents can lodge complaints directly.

The federal Fair Work system has limited reach for under-15s, but that doesn't mean there's no recourse. Here's the realistic path if you think your teenager is being ripped off.

Step 1: Work out whether an award applies. Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's online Pay and Conditions Tool. Enter the industry, state, and role. If the award covers under-16 juniors, you've got a binding federal minimum and can enforce it through the FWO.

Step 2: Compare against state rates. If there's no award, check your state's junior rate (WA has one; other states mostly don't). For WA under-15s in award-free work, the state minimum is enforceable via the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.

Step 3: Check the hours against state child employment law. Even where there's no enforceable hourly minimum, a breach of hours limits, break rules, or permit requirements is enforceable and the fines can be substantial. Victoria's Wage Inspectorate issued $4.3 million in child employment fines in 2024-25.

Step 4: Document everything. Shifts worked, times in and out, pay received (cash or bank), any promises made verbally. Teen workplace disputes often rely heavily on text messages and social media DMs as evidence.

Step 5: Lodge a complaint.

• Fair Work Ombudsman — for award-covered work or federal system breaches. Free, online, takes 6-8 weeks typically.
• State child employment authority — for hours, safety, or permit issues. Faster for urgent safety concerns.
• Police — if the work involves anything unsafe, inappropriate, or potentially criminal.

And have a conversation with the kid. Young workers are often reluctant to complain because they're worried about losing the job or getting a bad reputation. Remind them that the law is on their side, and that underpaid work is not a normal rite of passage to accept quietly. Use our minimum wage calculator to show them the numbers in black and white.