Junior Minimum Wage by Age
These are the rates for award and agreement free employees, set by the National Minimum Wage Order 2026 (PR799279). They apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.
| Age | % of adult rate | Hourly | Casual hourly | Weekly (38 hrs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 16 | 36.8% | $9.73 | $12.16 | $369.80 |
| 16 | 47.3% | $12.51 | $15.64 | $475.32 |
| 17 | 57.8% | $15.29 | $19.11 | $580.83 |
| 18 | 68.3% | $18.06 | $22.58 | $686.35 |
| 19 | 82.5% | $21.82 | $27.28 | $829.04 |
| 20 | 97.7% | $25.84 | $32.30 | $981.79 |
| 21 and over | 100.0% | $26.44 | $33.05 | $1,004.90 |
Hourly and casual hourly figures match those published by the Fair Work Ombudsman. Fair Work publishes no weekly junior column — the weekly amounts above are our calculation, being the percentage applied to the $1,004.90 weekly National Minimum Wage.
The percentages come from cl 8.2 (Special National Minimum Wage 3), which stops at age 20. The final row is not part of that table: at 21 an employee simply stops being a junior and moves onto cl 4.1 (the National Minimum Wage), which applies from age 21.
Which Junior Rate Actually Applies to You?
This is the question that matters, and the table above answers it for only a minority of young workers. Most people under 21 in paid work are in retail, fast food or hospitality — all award-covered. An award sets its own junior percentage, and applies it to the award classification rate, not to the National Minimum Wage. Both numbers change.
So there are three questions, in order: does an award cover your job; what classification level are you; and what percentage does that award set for your age. Getting the first one wrong is the expensive mistake.
Junior Rates by Award
There is no single national junior scale. These three awards cover a large share of young workers and they disagree with each other at almost every age.
General Retail Industry Award (MA000004)
cl 17.2, Table 5 — Retail employee levels 1–3 only. Adult rate at 20 with more than 6 months' service.
| Age | % of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 16 | 45% |
| 16 | 50% |
| 17 | 60% |
| 18 | 70% |
| 19 | 80% |
| 20 (6 months or less) | 90% |
| 20 (more than 6 months) | 100% |
Fast Food Industry Award (MA000003)
Table 4 — Adult rate at 21.
| Age | % of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 16 | 40% |
| 16 | 50% |
| 17 | 60% |
| 18 | 70% |
| 19 | 80% |
| 20 | 90% |
| 21 | 100% |
Hair and Beauty Industry Award (MA000005)
Table 5 — Adult rate at 18 — the earliest of any common award.
| Age | % of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 17 | 50% |
| 17 | 75% |
| 18 and over | 100% |
Three differences worth knowing. Retail and fast food pay differently at under-16 — 45% against 40% — while matching exactly at 16 through 19. Retail’s 20-year-old band splits on service, reaching the adult rate only after more than six months with the same employer, where fast food holds 20-year-olds at 90% until they turn 21. And Hair and Beauty reaches the full adult rate at 18, the earliest of any common award.
Full classification tables are on our retail award rates and hospitality award rates pages. Hospitality is a fourth scale again, paying 85% at 19 where retail pays 80%, and it has a separate table for office employees.
Some Awards Have No Junior Rates At All
A junior rate only exists where the instrument covering you actually contains one, and several major awards do not. The SCHADS award — social, community, home care and disability services — has no junior rates clause. An 18-year-old disability support worker is entitled to the full adult rate for their classification.
Two further limits are easy to miss. Under the retail award, junior percentages apply only to employee levels 1 to 3; a junior doing level 4 work is entitled to the full level 4 rate. And in hospitality, juniors with a trade qualification, and any junior working as a liquor service employee, must be paid the adult rate whatever their age.
Are Junior Rates Changing?
Not yet — and not the way it is usually reported
Fair Work Commission decision [2026] FWCFB 75 (31 March 2026) would raise junior rates for 18 to 20-year-olds under the General Retail Industry Award, Fast Food Industry Award, Pharmacy Industry Award who have more than 6 months with the current employer. Nothing has been varied. The Commission said it will hear the parties on timing before making any determination, and the schedule below is expressly a provisional view.
It is also not a jump to the adult rate. It is a phase-in of about five percentage points every six months. On 1 December 2026, if adopted, an eligible 19-year-old would move from 80% to 85% — not to 100%.
| From first pay period after | Age 18 | Age 19 | Age 20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | 70% | 80% | 90% |
| 1 December 2026 | 75% | 85% | 95% |
| 1 July 2027 | 80% | 90% | 100% |
| 1 December 2027 | 85% | 95% | 100% |
| 1 July 2028 | 90% | 100% | 100% |
| 1 December 2028 | 95% | 100% | 100% |
| 1 July 2029 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Provisional view only, from [2026] FWCFB 75. Applies to employees with more than 6 months with the current employer. Not in force.
In Fair Work’s own words: “The Commission has indicated that these changes will be introduced gradually, with further hearings to be held about how and when this will happen. However, the Commission has said that the changes could start from 1 December 2026.”
Rates for employees under 18 are unchanged by this decision, and it does not touch the National Minimum Wage junior scale at all.
Minimum Working Age by State
There is no national minimum working age. It is set by each state and territory, and the differences are large. Separately from any of this, every jurisdiction prohibits work during school hours for children of compulsory school age.
| State or territory | Minimum age | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | No minimum age | NSW Industrial Relations states there is no minimum legal age to start work. Separate rules apply to under-16s in still photography, modelling, promotional work, performance and public speaking, but not to retail or hospitality. |
| VIC | 13, or 11 for deliveries | 11 to deliver newspapers and advertising material; 13 for other work including retail and hospitality. No age limit in entertainment. An employer usually needs a licence to employ someone under 15. Work is generally limited to 6am–9pm, 3 hours a day and 12 hours a week during term. |
| QLD | 13, or 11 for supervised deliveries | 13 generally, lowered to 11 for supervised delivery work between 6am and 6pm. No work between 10pm and 6am, and a maximum of 4 hours on a school day. |
| WA | No flat minimum — restricted by job type under 15 | Any age in a family business, professional performance or for a charity. 10–12 may deliver newspapers or advertising material. 13–14 may work in a shop, fast food outlet, cafe or restaurant, or collect trolleys, with written parental permission, outside school hours and between 6am and 10pm. |
| SA | No minimum age | SafeWork SA states there is no minimum working age in South Australia, so a child of any age may undertake paid employment. Children of compulsory school age cannot be employed during school hours. |
| TAS | No minimum age | Generally no minimum age for casual or part-time work, though age restrictions apply to certain types of work. Work during school hours requires an approved exemption. |
| ACT | No minimum age stated; hours capped by age | ACT government pages set hour limits without stating a floor — no more than 10 hours a week under 15, and daily caps rising from 3 hours under age 3 to 6 hours at ages 12–15. |
| NT | No flat minimum — restricted roles under 15 | Under 15s are limited to roles such as babysitting, helping in a family business or delivering newspapers. From 15 a wider range of work is allowed. No work during school hours, and none between 10pm and 6am under 15. |
Each state name links to that jurisdiction’s own government page.
You will often see it said that the standard minimum working age in Australia is 15. No government page states that. It appears only in media and secondary sources, and it is wrong for at least six of the eight jurisdictions above.
How Junior Rates Are Calculated
The percentage is applied to the weekly rate, and the hourly figure is that weekly amount divided by 38 ordinary hours. The order is not cosmetic. Applying the percentage to the hourly minimum instead gives a figure one cent lower at ages 17, 19 and 20 — for a 19-year-old working 20 hours a week that is about $10 a year, and it is the difference between matching Fair Work’s published figure and not.
The casual rate is then the rounded junior hourly rate plus the 25% loading. At 19 that gives $27.28; deriving it from the unrounded figure would give a cent less. Every hourly and casual figure in the first table matches Fair Work’s published dollars exactly, and automated tests hold them there.
To see what a junior rate leaves after tax, use our take-home pay calculator — most junior earnings fall under the $18,200 tax-free threshold, so the answer is often that no income tax is withheld at all. Our first job guide covers tax file numbers, super and reading your first payslip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Junior pay rate questions and answers
What is the minimum wage for a 16 year old in Australia?
For an employee covered by no award or agreement, a 16-year-old receives 47.3% of the National Minimum Wage — $12.51 an hour, or $15.64 an hour as a casual. Most 16-year-olds, though, work in retail or fast food and are covered by an award, which sets its own junior percentage against the award classification rate rather than against the National Minimum Wage. Under the General Retail Industry Award a 16-year-old gets 50% of the adult rate; under the Fast Food Industry Award, also 50%. Check which award covers you before using the national figure.
What is the minimum wage for a 15 year old in Australia?
A 15-year-old falls in the "under 16" band: 36.8% of the National Minimum Wage, which is $9.73 an hour, or $12.16 as a casual. That is the award-free rate. If an award applies, the under-16 percentage of the award rate applies instead — 45% under the retail award and 40% under fast food, which is one of the few places those two awards genuinely differ.
What is the minimum wage for a 14 year old in Australia?
The same "under 16" band applies: $9.73 an hour award-free, or $12.16 casual. There is no separate 14-year-old rate. The more important question is usually whether a 14-year-old can legally be employed at all, and that depends entirely on the state or territory — there is no national minimum working age. NSW, South Australia and Tasmania set no minimum age; Victoria and Queensland set 13 for most work; Western Australia and the Northern Territory restrict what under-15s may do rather than setting a floor. Every jurisdiction separately prohibits work during school hours.
What is the minimum working age in Australia?
There is no national minimum working age. The Fair Work Ombudsman says directly that the minimum age depends on the state or territory. NSW, SA, TAS set no minimum age at all. Victoria sets 13 for most work and 11 for delivering newspapers or advertising material; Queensland sets 13, or 11 for supervised delivery work. Western Australia and the Northern Territory instead restrict which jobs under-15s may do — in WA a 13 or 14-year-old may work in a shop, cafe or fast food outlet with written parental permission. The often-repeated claim that "the minimum age in Australia is 15" appears only in secondary sources and is not stated on any government page.
What are the junior pay rates for 2026-27?
For award-free employees, as a percentage of the National Minimum Wage: under 16 36.8% ($9.73/hr), 16 47.3% ($12.51), 17 57.8% ($15.29), 18 68.3% ($18.06), 19 82.5% ($21.82) and 20 97.7% ($25.84). From 21 the full National Minimum Wage of $26.44 an hour applies. These come from the National Minimum Wage Order 2026 (PR799279) and apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.
What is the casual minimum wage in Australia?
For an adult award-free employee, $33.05 an hour — the 25% casual loading on top of the $26.44 National Minimum Wage. For juniors the loading applies to the junior rate, giving $12.16 under 16, $15.64 at 16, $19.11 at 17, $22.58 at 18, $27.28 at 19 and $32.30 at 20. The loading compensates for having no paid annual leave, personal leave or notice of termination. If an award covers you, the loading applies to the award rate instead.
At what age do you get full adult pay in Australia?
It depends on the instrument. Under the National Minimum Wage the full adult rate applies from 21. But awards set their own ages, and they differ sharply: the Hair and Beauty Industry Award reaches the adult rate at 18, the earliest of any common award; the Hospitality Industry (General) Award pays 100% from 20; the General Retail Industry Award reaches 100% at 20 but only after more than six months with the same employer; and the Fast Food Industry Award holds juniors at 90% until 21. There is no single national answer.
Do junior rates apply to every job?
No. A junior rate only applies where the instrument covering you actually contains one. Some awards have no junior rates at all — the SCHADS award, which covers social, community, home care and disability work, contains no junior clause, so an 18-year-old disability support worker is paid the full adult rate for their classification. Under the retail award junior rates are confined to employee levels 1 to 3, so a junior doing level 4 work gets the full level 4 rate. And juniors in hospitality with a trade qualification, or working as liquor service employees, must be paid the adult rate regardless of age.
Are junior rates being abolished?
Not currently, and nothing has changed yet. In decision [2026] FWCFB 75 of 31 March 2026, the Fair Work Commission decided to raise junior rates for 18 to 20-year-olds under the Retail, Fast Food and Pharmacy awards who have more than 6 months with the current employer. Two things are widely misreported about it. First, no determination has been made — the Commission said it will hear the parties on timing first, and the schedule it published is expressly a provisional view. Second, it is a gradual phase-in of about five percentage points every six months, not a jump to the adult rate. On 1 December 2026, if adopted, an eligible 19-year-old would move from 80% to 85% — not to 100%. Full adult rates would arrive in July 2027 for 20-year-olds, July 2028 for 19-year-olds and July 2029 for 18-year-olds. Rates for under-18s are unchanged.
How are junior rates calculated?
The percentage is applied to the weekly rate, and the hourly figure is then that weekly amount divided by 38 ordinary hours. The order matters: applying the percentage directly to the hourly minimum instead produces a figure a cent lower at ages 17, 19 and 20. The casual rate is then the rounded junior hourly rate plus the 25% loading — at 19 that gives $27.28, where working from the unrounded figure would give a cent less. Every hourly and casual figure on this page matches Fair Work's own published dollars exactly.
Can an employer pay a junior less than these rates?
No. These are legal minimums, not guidelines, and paying below them is underpayment regardless of whether the employee agreed to it. Since 1 January 2025 intentional underpayment has been a federal criminal offence. Junior rates are also the wrong place to be casual about classification: an employee wrongly placed a level down, or given a junior rate under an award that has none, can be owed thousands over a year. Underpayments can generally be recovered for up to six years.
How these rates were verified▼
Junior percentages come from the National Minimum Wage Order 2026 (PR799279, made 19 June 2026), read from the order itself. The 6 junior bands are set by cl 8.2 (Special National Minimum Wage 3), which stops at age 20; the adult row comes from cl 4.1 (the National Minimum Wage), which applies from age 21. Award scales are quoted from the consolidated award texts.
Hourly and casual figures are regression-tested against the twelve dollar amounts the Fair Work Ombudsman publishes, so a rounding change cannot pass silently. Weekly junior amounts are our own derivation and labelled as such, because Fair Work publishes no weekly junior column. The pending [2026] FWCFB 75 phase-in is presented as a provisional view that is not in force, with the Commission’s own timetable rather than a paraphrase. Minimum working ages are taken from each jurisdiction’s own government page.
Sources & References
- 1National Minimum Wage Order 2026 (PR799279)— Fair Work Commission
- 2Award and agreement free wages and conditions— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 3Junior pay rates— Fair Work Ombudsman
- 4Minimum working age— Fair Work Ombudsman
Last verified: 28 July 2026. Our content is based on the latest information from official Australian government sources.
Penny Ward
Verified AuthorEmployment & Workplace Rights Editor
B.Com (Hons), Cert IV Financial Planning
Penny is a financial journalist and workplace compliance specialist with over a decade of experience writing about Australian employment law, Fair Work entitlements, and payroll. She has contributed to publications covering industrial relations and personal finance, and previously advised small businesses on award interpretation and pay compliance.
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