Can a 16-Year-Old Have 2 Jobs? Hours, Overtime, and Taxes

Yes, a 16-year-old can have two jobs at the same time. Federal law sets no limit on how many employers a 16- or 17-year-old may work for, and no cap on total weekly hours.¹ What actually shapes a two-job schedule at this age is state law, the list of tasks minors are barred from doing, and how pay and taxes work once a second W-2 enters the picture.

What Federal Law Lets a 16-Year-Old Do

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers who are 16 or 17 may be employed for unlimited hours in any non-hazardous occupation.¹ There is no federal ceiling on hours per day, hours per week, or time of day. Overnight and late-night shifts are not restricted federally for this age group.

Because federal law imposes no hour ceiling, a 16-year-old working two jobs could exceed 40 combined hours in a week without breaking any federal rule. Each employer only has to track the hours you work for that business. No federal rule requires one employer to know or care about the hours you keep at an unrelated job.

The federal focus at 16 shifts from how much you work to what kind of work you do. That distinction matters when picking a second job.

State Rules Often Tighten the Schedule

When a state rule is stricter than the federal standard, the employer must follow the state rule.² For a teen working two jobs, this is where the practical limits usually show up. Common state restrictions include:

Weekly hour caps during the school year, even though federal law sets none.
Nighttime curfews, often requiring 16-year-olds to stop working by 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. on nights before a school day.
Mandatory meal or rest breaks, commonly a 30-minute break after five consecutive hours.
Task restrictions beyond federal ones, such as bans on ladder work.

These caps apply to your total schedule, not per employer. If your state limits 16-year-olds to a set number of hours during a school week, hours at both jobs count toward that ceiling, and both employers have to respect the curfew on school nights. Check your state’s labor department for the specifics before signing on to a second shift somewhere.

Many states also require a work permit or age certificate before a minor starts a job, even though federal law does not.¹ Where permits are required, a 16-year-old with two jobs often needs a separate permit for each employer, because the permit ties to a specific workplace. The Department of Labor publishes a state-by-state chart of age certificate requirements.³

Work a 16-Year-Old Cannot Do at Either Job

Seventeen Hazardous Occupations Orders identify tasks the federal government considers too dangerous for anyone under 18. A prohibited task is just as illegal at a second job as it is at the first.⁴ The prohibitions most likely to come up in typical teen jobs include:

Operating forklifts, cranes, derricks, or non-automatic elevators.⁵
Using power-driven meat slicers, grinders, choppers, or saws, including the ones found in delis and grocery stores.⁵
Running commercial dough mixers, batter mixers, bread-dividing machines, dough sheeters, or cake-cutting band saws. A narrow exception covers small portable countertop mixers comparable to household models (½ horsepower or less, bowl capacity of five quarts or less), as long as they aren’t used for meat or poultry.⁶
All roofing work, trenching, excavation, and logging.
Power-driven woodworking machines like saws, shapers, and joiners.

Driving and Delivery Are Off the Table

The rule that eliminates the most second-job options for 16-year-olds is the ban on driving as part of work. Federal law prohibits anyone under 18 from driving a motor vehicle on a public road as part of their job, even with a valid state driver’s license. A limited driving exception exists, but only for workers who are at least 17 and meet all nine criteria in the regulation, so 16-year-olds are fully excluded.⁵ Pizza delivery, food courier work, and any other position that involves driving to make deliveries are not legal jobs for a 16-year-old. Time-sensitive deliveries are separately prohibited for all workers under 18.⁷

How Pay Works Across Two Employers

Overtime Between Two Jobs

Federal overtime requires at least one and a half times the regular hourly rate for hours worked beyond 40 in a single workweek.⁸ When you work for two separate, unrelated employers, each one counts only its own hours. Work 25 hours at one job and 20 at another, and neither owes overtime, because neither individually crossed 40.

The exception is when the two businesses qualify as “joint employers,” meaning they share control over your work, have an arrangement to share your services, or one controls the other.⁸ Two restaurants owned by the same franchisee, for example, would likely have to combine your hours. Two unrelated businesses with different owners generally would not.

A handful of states also require overtime once you work more than a certain number of hours in a single day, regardless of the weekly total. Some trigger it after 8 hours in one day.⁹ In those states, a long shift at either job could carry overtime pay from that employer even if your weekly total stays under 40.

The Youth Minimum Wage Resets at Each Job

Federal law lets employers pay workers under 20 a reduced wage of $4.25 per hour for the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment.¹⁰ The 90 days are counted on the calendar, not by days actually worked. After that, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 kicks in.

The 90-day window runs separately for each employer. If you pick up a second job, that new employer can also pay $4.25 for its own 90 calendar days, regardless of how long you have already been at your first job.¹⁰ Many states set higher minimums, and some don’t allow the reduced youth rate at all, so your real pay floor depends on where you live.

Taxes When You Have Two W-2s

For the 2025 tax year, a dependent with only earned income has to file a federal return if that income exceeds $15,750.¹¹ The 2026 threshold rises to $16,100.¹² If your combined pay falls below that but your employers withheld federal income tax, filing anyway is still worth doing to claim a refund.

Each employer will hand you a Form W-4. With two jobs going at once, the IRS directs you to complete Step 2 so withholding accounts for the combined income. You can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator, fill in the Multiple Jobs Worksheet on page 3, or, if you have exactly two jobs, check the box in Step 2(c) on both W-4s. Complete Steps 3 and 4 only on the W-4 for the higher-paying job, and leave them blank on the other.¹³ Skipping Step 2 is the most common reason a teen with two jobs owes a surprise balance at tax time.

Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) come out of wages at both jobs. A narrow FICA exemption covers students employed by the school, college, or university where they’re enrolled, but a retail store, restaurant, or other outside employer does not qualify.¹⁴

1
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #43: Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for Nonagricultural Occupations
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Selected State Child Labor Standards Affecting Minors Under 18 in Non-farm Employment
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Employment/Age Certificate
4
eCFR. Part 570 Child Labor Regulations, Orders and Statements of Interpretation – Section: Subpart E
5
eCFR. Subpart E Occupations Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of Age
6
eCFR. Occupations Involved in the Operation of Bakery Machines (Order 11)
7
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #2A: Child Labor Rules for Employing Youth in Restaurants and Quick-Service Establishments Under the FLSA
8
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 778 – Overtime Compensation – Section: Subpart B
9
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
10
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage – Fair Labor Standards Act
11
Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return
12
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
13
Internal Revenue Service. Employee’s Withholding Certificate Form W-4
14
Internal Revenue Service. Student Exception to FICA Tax