I was discussing life insurance on a WIR message board, and of course the thread was hijacked into, how much do you need if you are a stay at home parent? Well according to Salary.com, apparently a stay at home mom is worth $122k in salary. A working mom’s salary at home is $76k. Um what?
I truly believe a SAHM is a very hard job, no if, ands, or buts. But it’s not worth $122k. Why? Well the average US salary is $48k for a family of 4. Assuming that the average primary breadwinner makes $40k, how in the world can Salary.com justify paying a stay at home mom $122k? Let alone saying a working mom earns $76k at home?
A normal working parent doesn’t even earn that much. The truth is, that you have to clean your house, cook dinner, laundry, CEO, janitor, etc. These are basic living chores. Also, who pays all these people that much? You have a housekeeper come in once a week, and in a HCOLA it might be $100/week. How does this all translate to $122k?
I really wonder about these surveys. I sort of feel that a SAHP might make a salary equal to the working parent becaues they are working at home, caring for kids, running the household. But to really price a SAHP as triple what the average worker makes? I don’t think that the argument can hold up.
What do you think?
11 responses so far ↓
1 444 // Jul 16, 2009 at 9:50 am
You have to remember that no one is getting overpaid because everything is theoretical. Those inflated numbers come from adding up salaries of people who do separate things, one at a time, then piling them all up together. No one can work full time as a cook AND a chauffeur AND a child care worker AND a maid AND a home teacher AND a laundry attendant, etc. etc.
The reality is, and everyone who stays at home knows this, that people juggle bits of those jobs and try to fit in an hour of laundry, an hour of cooking, and hour of chauffeuring, etc. all into one day. So the real comparison would be: How much would you have to pay someone to pick up your kids from school, cook meals, get the laundry done, and clean/tidy up? A lot less than the salary quoted.
2 R. May // Jul 16, 2009 at 10:04 am
I always had a problem with the inflated titles like CEO, CFO, psychologist, etc. Why don’t they just throw doctor in there since we diagnose and treat illnesses too. Those salary numbers are ridiculous – I don’t have the education or background to be a CEO nor am I really doing equivalent work.
Being a mom is important – to the kids your raising. We shouldn’t need to jusitfy it with made up salary numbers.
3 Melani // Jul 16, 2009 at 11:59 am
One of the reasons that the number is so high is they’re figuring in hours working. A regular job is normally 40 or so hours per week while a sahm mom is basically “on duty” 24/7. I don’t know about 122K but I wouldn’t mind someone paying me for staying home!
4 R. May // Jul 16, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@ Melani – yes but so are working parents and single parents (like me).
If you really want to argue 24/7 – I have no one else to throw in a load of laundry, make dinner, drop off at soccer practice, stay up all night with sick kid. Me myself and I.
But factoring in that is ridiculous! Even people without children need to cook, do dishes, fold laundry, etc. There’s a differencial here and it’s not being factored in.
5 Meg from FruWiki // Jul 16, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I think it’s quite exaggerated, mostly to make moms feel good around Mother’s Day.
Yes, moms do a lot, but just because you talk to your kid doesn’t make you a psychologist, entitled to the salary of a TRAINED professional who has spent many, many hours studying. Nor does cooking make you a chef, nor teaching your kids makes you qualified to be a teacher, nor does using a computer make you any sort of computer expert. Unless they have special training, moms — like anyone else — would probably expect to be hired only at entry level positions for those various fields.
However, I’m not saying that what moms do isn’t valuable. To the contrary, I think these salary estimators do moms a disservice, because they can’t put a value on what it really means to be a MOM — not a cook, not a housekeeper, not a chaffeur, a MOM — which is truly a unique position. Bringing someone into this world, caring for them, preparing them for their future, helping shape the future generations… that is a great responsibility, and it is PRICELESS.
6 Cat804 // Jul 16, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I second R. May. To me the only thing a SAHP does that the rest of us don’t have to do is childcare during the working day. As a single mom when I get home from work, I still have to cook, clean, etc.
That’s not to take away from the value of SAHPs- it’s a great job to have if you can swing it! But the rest of us are working hard too.
7 Patience // Jul 16, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Those “SAHMS could earn $122K” articles are kind of condescending anyway. On the other hand, Danielle Crittendon’s book, The Price of Motherhood, makes a valid point that it’s unfair that the contributions of SAH parents are not considered a part of the GDP. When I was a SAHM, I used to list my occupation as “unpaid laborer” on my tax return.
8 LAL // Jul 16, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I agree that it’s hard to value. And unfortunately they do not consider that DINKS, singles all have too cook, clean, self-medicate, etc.
And you are paying top dollar in HCOLA. I cannot imagine someone in LCOLA paying $2k/month for childcare, can you? That’s more than many pay.
I wonder if they aren’t using the most inflated numbers? What would the salary be if it were in a LCOLA.
9 FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com // Jul 16, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I did a whole post on this breaking down a SAHM’s pay. The post is coming up
10 Neil // Jul 17, 2009 at 7:25 am
Hi
I think a lot of these surveys just try and come up with the biggest number they can, just to get a few easy headlines. It’s like the statistics that come out every year about how much it costs to raise a kid. If they were true then there wouldn’t be many kids around!
11 LAL // Jul 23, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I can’t believe how much kids are to raise either!
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