Part-Time Work Rules for High School and University Students: Hours, Age Limits and Pay
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 19, 2026 • Money & Budgeting, Canadian Universities & Colleges
Every Canadian province writes its own rules on student work, so your minimum age, pay rate and hour limits depend on where you work, not on a single national law.
⏱️ Ontario pays a lower student minimum wage to workers under 18 who work 28 hours a week or less during the school term
Quebec sets a general minimum working age of 14 for most jobs
Federal labour standards only cover federally regulated employers like banks and airlines, a small share of student jobs
Overtime pay starts once you cross your province's weekly hour threshold, commonly 40 hours
Employment standards are set by your province
Canada has no single law setting student work hours or minimum working age for most jobs. Each province and territory writes its own employment standards act. The federal government, through Employment and Social Development Canada , only sets labour standards for federally regulated employers such as banks, airlines, telecoms and interprovincial transport, a small share of the jobs students actually work.
Minimum age to start working
Most provinces do not set one blanket minimum age for every job. Instead they restrict specific higher-risk sectors, such as construction sites, factories and mines, to workers who are 16 or 18, while leaving lower-risk jobs like retail and food service open to younger teens, often with written parental consent required under a set age. Quebec is the exception: since 2023 it enforces a general minimum working age of 14 for most jobs, with narrow exceptions for family businesses, artistic work, and light jobs such as newspaper delivery or babysitting.
Ontario: a concrete example
Ontario runs a separate, lower minimum wage for students. From October 1, 2025 the general minimum wage sits at $17.60 an hour, while workers under 18 who work 28 hours a week or less during the school term, or who work during a school break or summer, earn a student rate of $16.60 an hour, according to Ontario's Ministry of Labour .
Work more than 28 hours in a school-term week and your employer owes you the full general rate for every hour that week, not the student rate.
Hour limits during the school term
Most provincial employment standards acts do not cap the total hours a student over the general working age can work in a week. The practical limit comes from your own schedule and, for younger teens, from provincial rules restricting work during school hours and late-night shifts. Confirm your own province's current rule with its labour ministry before committing to a shift schedule, since the details differ by age and by sector.
What stays the same across every province
- You earn at least the general or applicable student minimum wage for every hour worked.
- You get statutory rest periods and, in most provinces, one day off after six consecutive days of work.
- Overtime pay starts once you cross your province's weekly hour threshold: commonly 40 hours (BC, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and federally regulated jobs), though Ontario, Alberta and New Brunswick set it at 44 hours and Nova Scotia and PEI at 48.
- Your employer owes you pay for time worked regardless of your age or your immigration or citizenship status.
Where to check your own province's rule
Employment standards branches exist in every province and territory, run separately from the federal government. Search your provincial government's website for its employment standards or labour branch page before you accept a job offer, and ask directly about the minimum age and any student sub-minimum wage that applies to your specific role and hours.