Your first job in Somerset County.

How working papers work

Every New Jersey minor under 18 needs approved working papers before starting a job. Since 2023 the whole process runs through MyWorkingPapers.nj.gov, not a school guidance office. Three people log in and do their part: the minor, the employer, and a parent or caregiver.

1. Line up the job first. New Jersey requires an actual offer of employment before the online application can even be submitted; a job search in progress doesn't count.
2. The employer registers once at MyWorkingPapers.nj.gov and gets an 8-digit Employer Unique Code. Ask for it when the job offer is made.
3. The minor creates an account with a name and email, confirms it, then applies using the employer's code and the caregiver's name and email.
4. The employer gets an email and confirms the job details are correct.
5. The caregiver gets an automatic email, creates an account, uploads one proof-of-age document (a birth certificate, driver's license, learner's permit, passport, baptismal certificate, USCIS arrival certificate, or a life insurance policy at least a year old), and approves.
6. The caregiver has 14 days to act. No response in that window, and the application becomes "Approved (Provisional)" on its own, and the minor can start working anyway.
7. Once approved or provisionally approved, the minor can start the job.

A separate application is required for every employer; changing jobs means starting over, but staying in the same job with the same duties doesn't require reapplying every year. There's no fee at any step. Working papers issued under the old paper system before June 1, 2023 are still good, as long as the employer, job title, and duties haven't changed.

Sourced from the NJ Department of Labor's own pages: get started, the steps, and the FAQ, checked July 2026.

Who needs papers, and at what age

General jobs (retail, food service, most of what a teenager applies for) start at 14 in New Jersey. Under 14, legal work is limited to a short list: farm work (12 and up), volunteering at a community recycling center (12 to 17), delivering newspapers (11 and up), and theatrical work with a special permit. Casual work like babysitting or mowing a neighbor's lawn isn't regulated as employment at all. Every minor under 18 needs an approved or provisionally approved application before day one, no matter the job.

Hour limits by age

New Jersey caps hours differently for the school year and for summer (the day after school lets out through Labor Day). Two age bands cover almost every first job:

12- and 13-year-olds can legally work too, but only in the narrow categories above (farm work, recycling-center volunteering); their hour limits mirror the 14–15 row. Every age: never more than 6 days in a row, and a 30-minute break is required after 5 straight hours on the clock.

Sourced from the current statute, N.J.S.A. 34:2-21.3 (amended by P.L.2021, c.149 to raise the 16–17 summer cap) and 34:2-21.4, cross-checked against the state's current young-workers page, checked July 2026.

What's off-limits

New Jersey bans minors from a long list of jobs, most of it aimed at heavy machinery and hazardous materials a first job never goes near. The parts worth knowing:

• Under 16: power-driven machinery of any kind, including power lawn mowers and power tools, plus conveyor belts.
• Under 18: construction work, farm equipment like corn pickers and hay balers, junk and scrap metal yards, mining and foundry work, explosives and highly flammable materials, pesticide application, elevator operation or repair, meat-processing machines and boning work, serving or handling alcohol, working a bar area, driving payroll off-premises.
• Two carve-outs worth knowing going in: a 15-year-old can run a cash register or bag groceries next to one, and a 14-year-old can caddy or work as a pool attendant.

Sourced from N.J.S.A. 34:2-21.17 and N.J.A.C. 12:58, subchapters 3–4 (the state's own child labor regulations booklet, cross-checked against the current statute text), checked July 2026.

For parents

Everything above is pulled straight from the state's own working papers pages and the actual New Jersey statute, not a summary of a summary. It's free to read, and nothing here is gated behind an email address. The subscribe box below is only for people who also want Thursday's newsletter.