Stop giving pocket money. Start paying a pocket wage.
$5.19an hour
About $12.98 a week for 2½ hours of paid jobs. That's 19.6% of Australia's $26.44 minimum wage.
Worked out from Fair Work Ombudsman — Annual Wage Review 2026, rates from 1 July 2026.
It's not a number we made up.
At 15, the legal minimum in Australia is $9.73 an hour. Pocket Wage draws a straight line from there back to zero, and your kid's age picks the spot on it.
- Pocket wage, paid by you
- Real minimum wage, paid by a boss
Rates change when the law does. Next review: 1 July 2027.
Too much? Turn down the hours, never the rate.
The rate is the rate. What you choose is how many hours of paid jobs are on offer each week. Set what you're happy to spend and the hours follow.
$13
buys 2 hr 30 min of paid jobs a week at $5.19 an hour.
The Allowance Cliff
Pocket money turns up whether or not anything gets done. Then, somewhere around 15, a kid meets hours, rates, payslips and a boss, all in the same week. That drop is the Allowance Cliff.
A pocket wage swaps the cliff for a staircase: one step every birthday, until the family rate meets the real one. The first job becomes a promotion, not a shock.
Five rules. That's the whole system.
Pay a rate, not an amount.
The rate comes from your country's real minimum wage, scaled to your kid's age. Nobody picks a number out of the air.
Some work is family. Some work is paid.
Family Duties are unpaid, because belonging isn't billable. The Jobs Board is paid, and every job is priced by the time it should take.
Payday is sacred.
Same day every week, with a payslip. It is never docked or withheld in anger.
Every birthday is a pay rise.
On Pay-Rise Day the rate steps up automatically, the same way junior wages do in law.
The payslip grows up with them.
A locked savings slice from about 12. A household tax towards a family goal from about 14. By 16 it looks like the real thing.
Family Duties are free. The Jobs Board 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.
Family Duties
Unpaid, because belonging isn't billable.
- Clear your own plate
- Keep your room liveable
- Set the table
- Be decent to your siblings
The Jobs Board at age 8
| Job | Standard time | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Make your bed properly | 5 min | $0.43 |
| Unload the dishwasher | 10 min | $0.87 |
| Fold and put away a load of washing | 15 min | $1.30 |
| Vacuum the living areas | 20 min | $1.73 |
| Wash the car | 30 min | $2.60 |
| Mow the lawn | 45 min | $3.89 |
Example jobs and times. Pick ones that suit their age and set your own.
Get the pay rise.
We'll email you when their rate goes up: every birthday, and every time the minimum wage changes. Nothing else.
You're on the list.
Check your inbox for one email to confirm it's you. After that, you'll only hear from us when there's a pay rise.