jl-1 Posted May 10, 2008 Report Share Posted May 10, 2008 Study says stay-at-home family CEO is worth $117,000 If Mom drew a paycheck 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 $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 center 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 at 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 2 and 4. "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 that 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." Source... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmash Posted May 10, 2008 Report Share Posted May 10, 2008 These studies are kind of stupid, especially since it starts counting personal responsibility as payable and even adds overtime. I can see trying to figure out what the 40 hours a week are worth, but after that we all have things we do that someone else gets paid to do, whether we have children or not, whether we're female or not. For example, I woke up an hour ago, since then I've showered, shaved, made myself breakfast, cleaned up my room a little, and ran downstairs to check the mail. So here, we have (very, very rough estimates): showering, shaving - if someone else did for me, a personal caregiver - $20/hour breakfast - cook - $20 / hour cleaned up room - maid - $12 / hour checking mail - personal assistant - $15/hour So averaging these out, I should have just earned over $15 in the last hour, and I've already worked 40 hours this week, so tack on overtime .... Oh and don't forget I just slept for 7 hours, so "sleep study participant - $100 for the night" That all said, my Mom was a stay at home mother, and I'm grateful for it, and in no way am I trying to undervalue what they do. It is just as important and difficult, if not moreso, than most paid jobs and should be thought of that way. However, if you absolutely have to put a pricetag on what they do, compare it to the salary of a nanny, not a CEO. I just think that sensational stories like this tend to do more to harm the author's point than support it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny_rudeboy Posted May 16, 2008 Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 Who knows what value you can put on it. I think maybe it should be the "stay at home partner" as much as mom. The mother aspect is only a portion of what a stay at home spouse does. The laundry, housecleaning, and meals for all the significant others. Unlike work that you leave at the end of the day and eventually after 30 odd years the work at home for that stay at home spouse never goes away. It is what my wife calls thankless. She quit working 18 years ago to take care of things at home and over the years many people have asked her what she did for a living. She would tell them and many would chuckle saying "that's not work". She had a C section when our son was born and I took 3 weeks off work to take care of things at home and I will tell you it is not a picnic taking care of the home. Since she stopped working she has in most cases gotten the impression from people that she is not a productive member of society because she stays and yes works at home. My hat goes off to all those partners out there who spend 24 hours, 7 days a week, 52 weeks in a year taking care of those of us who work 8 or 10 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week. They work just as hard at a thankless job (laundry, dishes, cleaning house, doctor appointments - the family social worker, health care professional, home doctor and confidant) that never ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royownsall Posted May 16, 2008 Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 Stay at home mom needs to take care of the kids so... 4pm-8pm 4 hours a day/ making 15$ per hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lecavalierrocks Posted May 16, 2008 Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 Stay at home mom needs to take care of the kids so... 4pm-8pm 4 hours a day/ making 15$ per hour ummm, just a random question, since when do "stay-at-home" moms spend only 4 hours a day taking care of their kids? it's basically like ure on Call 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted May 17, 2008 Report Share Posted May 17, 2008 Stay at home mom needs to take care of the kids so... 4pm-8pm 4 hours a day/ making 15$ per hour wow, this is just plain silly... nearly as silly as claiming that a mom that stays at home to take care of the kids and all the housework should be making 100+ grand a year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koreysecord1992 Posted May 18, 2008 Report Share Posted May 18, 2008 When I was a kid both of my parents worked full-time jobs...my dad worked two jobs and went to school for a few years, so basically i didnt have a real relationship with my father until I was 5 or 6. I wish one of my parents could've "stayed home" but such is life in the lower middle class in America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman1509 Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 This is ridiculous when you consider that a single person who stays at home with no kids has to perform these duties for themselves on a lesser scale anyways. I have 3 kids and my wife and I work full time jobs and we have both been stay at home parents at different times and we both agree that staying home with the kids is not as hard as some people make out. I am in no way saying that being a parent is easy but it is also not hard. It has challenges but overall it is extremely enjoyable (at least it should be). At the risk of offending people I think that overall we have become much lazier as a race and things that used to be routine (reading to kids, going to the park, playing with the kids etc.) have become "burdensome". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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