Study pegs mom's market value at nearly US$117,000 a year By Mark Jewell, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON - If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she'd rake in a nifty sum of nearly US$117,000 a year. That's according to a pre-Mother's Day study released Thursday by Salary.com, a Waltham, Mass.-based firm that studies workplace compensation. The eighth annual survey calculated a mom's market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mom performs, ranging from housekeeper and day care centre teacher to van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer. This year, the annual salary for a stay-at-home mom would be $116,805, while a working mom who also juggles an outside job would get $68,405 for her motherly duties. One stay-at-home mom said the six-figure salary sounds a little low. "I think a lot of people think we sit and home and have a lot of fun and don't do a lot of work," said Samantha Russell, a Fremont, N.H., mother who left her job as pastry chef to raise two boys, ages two and four. "But they should try cleaning their house with little kids running around and messing it up right after them." The biggest driver of a mom's theoretical salary is the amount of overtime pay she'd receive for working more than 40 hours a week. The 18,000 moms surveyed about their typical week reported working 94.4 hours - meaning they'd be spending more than half their working hours on overtime. Working moms reported an average 54.6 hour "mom work week" besides the hours they spent at paying jobs. Russell agreed her job as a stay-at-home mom is more than full-time. But she said her "job" brings intangible benefits she wouldn't enjoy in the workplace. "The rewards aren't monetary, but it's a reward knowing that they're safe and happy," Russell said of her sons. "It's worth it all."
a mother's job really is the most rewarding job in the world. Money doesn't matter when you are able to spend all your time with your beloved little angels. But we do work really hard, harder than most people. Even when we are sleeping we are still working because we have to get up to our angels through the night as well. It isn't an easy job to raise children, but it really is the most rewarding.
You are so right Torana. I would not change the last 32 years of my life with anyone. Some days in there but very few. Even getting up in the nights because someone was sick and needed me were rewarding. I am just glad that I was lucky enough to be able to stay at home. Some people do not have a choice and that is kind of sad. Unfortunately that is the way of the world in these times. I just found it interesting that I would make more than many families make with 2 pay cheques coming in. Makes me feel like I am a contributing member of society.
oh yeah it is definitely interesting and I'm glad you posted it actually. And you are a contributing member to society lessa I'd never change my life. Nothing in life could be better than waking each day to my angels every day. Makes getting up worth while.
