Summary
- Currently, under-18s are not entitled to be paid super by their employer unless they work more than 30 hours in a week.
- As a result, a typical teen who spends at least two years in part-time work before turning 18 could miss out on around $2,500 in super contributions by age 18.
- An estimated 530,000 under-18s are affected by the 30-hour rule each year (Super Members Council 2026).
- The rule is likely to be scrapped: the Australian Labor Party adopted a policy to remove it at their July 2026 national conference, though the government has not yet committed to legislating this change.
- The danger of scrapping this rule is that it might remove an incentive for employers to employ more under-18s.
What is it?
If you are under 18, current regulations say you are not entitled to be paid super unless you work more than 30 hours in a week with one employer.
For example, if you are under 18, and work 7 hours in a week, you are not entitled to be paid super. If you have two jobs (different employers), and you worked 15 hours for one employer, and 16 hours for another employer in the same week; you still won’t be entitled to be paid super.
However, once you turn 18, you are eligible to be paid super from the first dollar you earn. So even if you worked as little as 3 hours in a week, if you are over 18, you will get paid super.
So what is it costing you?
In August 2026, the Super Members Council (SMC) released a report estimating that a typical teenager who spends at least two years in part-time work before turning 18 could miss out on around $2,500 in super contributions by the time they turn 18.
How many are affected?
The SMC estimate that around 530,000 under-18s are affected by this policy. Over the last two years the number affected has grown by 25,000.
Why does the rule exist?
When super began, the super guarantee was only 3% of wages. Back then, there was a genuine problem with small super balances belonging to casual teenage workers being consumed by super account fees and insurance premiums.
Two things have changed since then;
- The super guarantee is now 12%, not 3%.
- There are now protections on low balance super accounts from being eaten by fees.
So, reformers argue that the original rationale for the 30-hour rule no longer applies.
Should the policy change?
The SMC argue the 30-hour rule should be scrapped.
Misha Schubert, the CEO of the SMC says, “This outdated age-based exclusion is denying hundreds of thousands of teenage workers the opportunity to start building their retirement savings.”
Schubert said it was crucial to help young Australians start building super as early as possible.
Risk of change
The danger is of course increasing the employers’ cost of employing under-18s may create a disincentive for employers to actually employ under-18s. The current regulation creates a small incentive to employers to employ under-18s.
The Australian reports in July 2026 that industry groups including the Australian Retail Council have warned against extending the entitlement.
However, it’s worth considering whether these incentives are better managed through age-based wage rates rather than adding complexity and ages-based rules to super. Removing the rule would simplify super administration for employers.
Will it be scrapped?
At the Labor Party’s national conference in July 2026, the party adopted a new policy to scrape the 30-hour rule. This doesn’t immediately change the law, which requires legislation to pass through federal parliament. But it expected that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will move to put legislation to parliament.
