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Of British-English origin, the colloquial phrase nice little earner designates a profitable undertaking, especially one that is not strenuous or demanding.

This phrase occurs, for example, in the following from The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) of Saturday 20^th October 2001 [Good Weekend section: page 46, column 1]:

Life’s pretty fabulous for Aerin Lauder, granddaughter of Estée. Hunky husband, two kids, a pad on Park Avenue, nice little earner with Grandma’s old firm.

The phrase nice little earner was popularised by the British television series Minder (1979-1989), where it was much used by Arthur Daley, the shady dealer played by the British actor George Cole (1925-2015)—cf., below, quotations 4, 6 & 7.

The earliest occurrences of the phrase nice little earner that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:

1 & 2-: From A Policeman’s Lot, Fred Plester’s column, published in Bedfordshire on Sunday (Bedford, Bedfordshire, England):

1-: Of Sunday 11^th April 1982 [page 10, column 1]:

‘Clergymen don’t dress by the rules anymore’
Vicars and Mammon

THE CLERGY get a nice little earner at Easter. They call it the Easter Offering. Puzzled in my youth, it later amused me to watch my step-father stand at the altar with the collection plate in his hands incanting a solemn prayer of dedication.

2-: Of Sunday 25^th April 1982 [page 11, column 2]:

Even the con-man can’t cheat death

[…]
Selling non-existing shooting rights to Italians was a nice little earner. Varnished “samples” of Royal faeces mounted on imitation ebony and hot from the ‘Britannia’ went very well at Chicksands, retailing at twenty quid a throw.

3-: From The diabolical liberty of being verballed, i.e.., “a glossary to help English-speakers keep up with criminals and crooked policemen”, by Simon Hoggart, published in The Observer (London, England) of Sunday 15^th August 1982 [page 22, column 7]:

A ‘nice little earner’ is anything that brings in easy money, often but not always criminally. A ‘result’ is what the various parties are looking for. Thus a successful arrest, or a good bribe, or getting off a serious charge, would be a ‘result.’

4-: From the television programme guide, by Geoffrey Phillips, published in The Standard (London, England) of Wednesday 15^th December 1982 [page 19, column 2]:

THAMES
[…]
9.0 MINDER. Another chance to see artful Arthur Daley trying to net a nice little earner from a missing footballer, aided by tame tearaway Terry. With George Cole and Dennis Waterman.

5-: From Fred Plester’s column, published in Bedfordshire on Sunday (Bedford, Bedfordshire, England) of Sunday 6^th March 1983 [page 9, column 3]—H.M.I. stands for Her Majesty’s Inspectorate:

Announced visits from the H.M.I. used to throw the force into a frenzy. Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary are retired Chief Constables on a nice little earner whose purpose is to visit county forces and ensure that they are maintaining the required standards.

6-: From the Daily Mirror (London, England) of Saturday 2^nd July 1983 [page 3, columns 2 & 3]:

Arfur’s lad pops up with a nice little earner
I’ll make you a star, my son

’ERE, listen. Arfur’s lad could be on to a nice little earner. He’s made a record, see. And if it’s not a hit, his dad reckons there ain’t no justice.
George Cole, who plays artful dodger Arthur Daley in the TV series Minder, is sure that his son Crispian, 22, has got what it takes to be a star.
Crispian’s single, Runaway, is due out at the end of the month. George, meanwhile, will be getting ready for another Minder series—where he’ll fix up not-quite-so-nice “little earners” for the long-suffering Terry.

7-: From the Daily Mirror (London, England) of Saturday 24^th September 1983 [page 7, column 3]:

Watch out . . there’s a Minder about

TV comedian Mel Smith, from Not The Nine O’Clock News, is in danger of being clocked on another show.
He’s got mixed up with Arfur and Terry in Minder. And that means bovver.
Mel will be seen as a pop singer’s tough manager in the new Minder series next year. His role is to stop Arfur, alias George Cole, making a nice little earner out of a song that fell off the back of a tape recorder.
But Dennis Waterman, the faithful Terry, lends a hand. And his boss survives to try another dodgy deal.