Report: Stay-at-home moms are worth 6 figures a year

Overtime and the variety of job functions inflate the number.

By Karen Datko Oct 1, 2009 4:17PM

Want proof that stay-at-home moms would be earning a pretty good income if they were getting paid for their work? A report by Salary.com says the time SAHMs spend on 10 "mom job functions" -- including housekeeper and psychologist -- would bring $116,805 in the work world.

Full-time moms work an incredible amount of overtime at their jobs -- 54.4 hours a week above and beyond the normal 40, the Web site says.

In contrast, working mothers spend 54.6 hours total a week on mom stuff, in addition to their paying jobs. Their mom pay would be $68,405, according to Salary.com's calculations.

Bing: What's a mom worth?

Both income estimates are down from what Salary.com reported the previous year because of a change in how they were calculated.

How much is your mom time worth? "Bitsy Pieces" at Bits of Pieces advises that you can use a calculator at Salary.com to figure out what your salary would be, based on how many kids you have, where you live, and how much time you spend on individual mom job functions.

Of course, not everyone agrees that these estimates are valid, and with good reason. MSN Money's Liz Pulliam Weston, in an article several years ago, called such statistics "codswallop" (sending us scurrying to the dictionary to look that up).

David at My Two Dollars takes a different approach. "I would venture to say that you cannot even put a number on their worth," he says. "Sure, there are moms who don't do much of anything, but the majority of moms work incredibly hard at being a good mom -- and sometimes are not really recognized for their work."

Published May 21, 2008

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