Landscaping Jobs for Teens

When your teen is ready for his first job, one that’s outdoors and during the off-school summer months is ideal. Landscaping offers your teen the opportunity to be active and make money at the same time. Before your teen starts filling out applications, you need to understand where he can work, what he can and can't do and what the labor laws are.

Young Teens

Teens who are 14 or 15 may work in a landscaping job, but there are only certain tasks children of that age are allowed to do at this type of job. They can do yard cleanups, weeding and other yard work as long as they don't use power-driven equipment, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Youth Rules website 124. This includes mowers, edgers, trimmers or any other yard equipment that uses gas, oil, batteries or electricity for power.

At this age, your teen can’t work more than three hours on a school day or more than 18 hours a week total during the school year. During the summer, your child can work up to eight hours per day, and not more than 40 hours per week. They are not allowed by law to work before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. The only exception to this is from June 1 through Labor Day, or during the height of the landscaping season. During these months, your teen may work until 9 p.m.

Older Teens

A 16- or 17-year-old teen can work in any landscaping job, provided the Secretary of Labor hasn’t put it on the hazardous jobs list. These hazardous tasks include:

• using power-driven woodworking machinery
  
• a power-driven hoist apparatus
  
• chain saws
  
• reciprocating saws
  
• circular saws
  
• band saws or trenching

State-Prohibited Jobs

Your state may also prohibit certain landscaping-related duties. For example, in the state of Washington, teens under 18 can’t handle, mix, load or apply pesticides or harvest crops within 14 days of applying chemicals. Other states have similar laws that prevent teens from working in jobs that require using pesticides, chemicals or other hazardous substances. While your teen can’t work in a landscaping job that requires spraying chemical weed killers, he can manually pull weeds or bag untreated weeds and lawn clippings. Check with your state's labor department to see what your teen is and isn't allowed to do in a landscaping job.

Landscaping Pay

The lowest hourly dollar amount a teen can make as a landscaper is the youth federal youth minimum wage. If your teen is working a landscaping job for fewer than 90 consecutive days, an employer can legally pay this wage for the first 90 consecutive calendar days. After 90 days, the wage must go up to your state's minimum wage. Each state does not have the same minimum wage. These hourly rates also may change over time, depending on the state. The amount the landscaper pays varies, depending on how large the company is, your teen’s experience and what he negotiates with his employer.

2016 Salary Information for Grounds Maintenance Workers

Grounds maintenance workers earned a median annual salary of $26,920 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 456. On the low end, grounds maintenance workers earned a 25th percentile salary of $22,230, meaning 75 percent earned more than this amount 46. The 75th percentile salary is $33,640, meaning 25 percent earn more. In 2016, 1,309,300 people were employed in the U.S. as grounds maintenance workers 46.