Stay at Home Moms

I know many of you have likely seen this before but I just came across it on Salary.com and it made me smile so I thought I would share...

What mothers are really worth
Stay-at-home mothers wear many hats. They're the family CEO, the day care provider, accountant, chauffeur, counselor, chef, nurse, laundress, entertainer, personal stylist, and educator. Based on a 90-hour work week, Salary.com has estimated that a fair wage for the typical stay-at-home mom would be well over $90,000 for executing all of her daily tasks. Factor in overtime, and the appropriate salary takes a leap of around $25,000.

"Mothers are responsible for the mental and physical well being of the family - putting a price on that isn't easy," said Lena Bottos, compensation market analyst for Salary.com. "But we looked at it as what you would have to pay other people to do the same work if the mom weren't there."

Even if these mothers were getting paid what they'd be worth on the market, Bottos added that they still wouldn't be adequately compensated. "When you take into account that it represents a 90-hour workweek, and doesn't even begin to factor in that they are on call 24 hours a day, it's not so large. Plus, stay-at-home moms get no benefits in terms of pension or 401(k)."

Mom jobs

Job title Annual salary
Child Day Care Worker $20,259
Teacher $44,824
Taxi Driver $27,346
Facilities Manager $73,239
Short-order Cook $27,477
Laundry Attendant $17,917
Janitor $22,440
Counselor $27,638
CEO $545,268
Administrative Assistant III $37,143
Accounting Clerk III $34,842
Licensed Practical Nurse $38,111
Plumber I $33,155
Automotive Mechanic I $30,725
Cake Decorator $21,340

Jobs listed in order from largest to smallest component of a stay-at-home mom's job. All salaries are national averages. Source: Salary.com, 2004.

The estimate composite salary calculated by Salary.com's team of compensation experts for a stay-at-home mom is based on a 90-hour work week, consisting of six 14-hour days and one 6-hour day. Job titles, responsibilites, and qualifications were considered and weighed on a scale of importance, frequency, and average time spent on tasks per day. Hourly rates of pay corresponding to the 15 job titles in the above table were applied to the 90-hour model and multiplied by 52 weeks a year to determine an annual salary. It assumes the mother has two children of school age.

Stay at home Mom was listed as a dream job - I agree! You can find the entire article here.