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nredman · May 1, 2005, 12:04 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The old adage that "a mother's work is never done" remains as true now as ever. Today's stay-at-home Moms are learning what their predecessors always knew -- they'd be making a lot of money doing their job outside the home.

Just in time for Mother's Day, an informal study conducted by Web site Salary.com shows that stay-at-home moms would earn an average of $131,471 annually, including overtime, if they received a paycheck.

A sampling of the 5.4 million stay-at-home mothers were asked to come up with job titles that fit a general description of their daily routines.

The titles -- which reflected the most time-consuming parts of their day -- include day-care center teacher, van driver, housekeeper, cook, chief executive officer, nurse and general maintenance worker, the survey showed.

Of course, a stay-at-home parent does not work typical office hours. The hypothetical median salary is based on a 100-hour work week and assumes caring for at least two children of school age.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...omy_mothers_dc

my mother was a stay at home mom when i was young, she went to work after i started 1st grade. being a stay at home mom is a great thing to do and is needed in many cases...but $131,471 a year....

wdlove · May 1, 2005, 12:10 PM

The job of stay at home Mom is the most important job that a women can aspire. I was fortunate enough to have my mother at home through all of my school career. It would be difficult to put a price on the job of Mom, it's priceless.

Rev-O · May 1, 2005, 10:03 PM

Agreed. A stay at home parent has a difficult yet rewarding job. Four years ago my wife and I went from dinks to a one income family with a child and a stay at home parent. My wife wouldn't trade being a stay at home mom for anything, and I willingly admit, she works harder than I do. It has been very difficult to make ends meet at times, but ultimately, our daughter is worth the effort. Man, if I could find someone to give my wife 130 grand a year, that'd sure make life easier!

Superchicken · May 1, 2005, 10:17 PM

I hope the woman I marry wants to work... life's tough on a Pastor's salary.

TailsToo · May 1, 2005, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Superchicken

I hope the woman I marry wants to work... life's tough on a Pastor's salary.

Nowadays life is tough on almost anyone's salary. Heck even Steve Jobs only makes $1 a year.

storer · May 1, 2005, 11:28 PM

I have a single mum that works... in this situation it's impossible for her not work if she wants to lead a respectable lifestyle. She stayed at home with us until I was about 7 (sister was 5). Most of those years, her and my father built a business which is now huge (multi million dollar... sad that we sold shares) so she stayed at home and worked on the computer during the day in between keeping us entertained.

smacintush · May 3, 2005, 01:57 AM

I won't denigrate the Stay-at-home Moms or the overall point of this article, my wife was one for 9 years. However the way this survey was conducted is complete BS.

Lets survey the Fathers too. I could say that I am a:

Machinist (that is my real trade)
electrician
carpenter
financial planner
landscape maintenance
auto mechanic
secondary/assistant cook

Do I deserve $130,00 a year? No, because we ALL know that Dad's are really just fat, lazy, Football watching, beer swilling chauvinists waiting for their wives to serve them.

Plus, 100 hours a week? B.S. That's over 14 hours a day 7 days a week. No way, uh uh. Maybe some do that or even more (like when the kids are very young) but NOT as an average.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, really. But I have known many homemakers and this article does not reflect any reality I have ever seen.

Of course this article is B.S. on purpose to make to make Mothers feel good for Mother's Day so�

Master Ken · May 3, 2005, 03:11 AM

Who needs a mom anyways...

God i hate moms........

hart · May 3, 2005, 06:23 AM

Originally Posted by smacintush

I won't denigrate the Stay-at-home Moms or the overall point of this article, my wife was one for 9 years. However the way this survey was conducted is complete BS.

Plus, 100 hours a week? B.S. That's over 14 hours a day 7 days a week. No way, uh uh. Maybe some do that or even more (like when the kids are very young) but NOT as an average.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, really. But I have known many homemakers and this article does not reflect any reality I have ever seen.

Of course this article is B.S. on purpose to make to make Mothers feel good for Mother's Day so�

well, let's see, I'm a stay-at-home parent of 3 kids under 10 with a busy executive spouse. My day starts at 7 most days and goes non-stop to 10pm 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Plus I'm on call all night. Now my kids are past babyhood this only means occasional night work but it used to mean a lot more. When I have a babysitter it's usually so I can split up the work. Most of the time I'm doing 2 or more jobs at once, ie, paying the bills while supervising my 3 and a playdate kid. Or making a meal, doing the laundry and assisting with homework at the same time, taking a load I would never ask my babysitter to do.

I think the study counts doing two jobs at once as getting paid twice, but even at $20/hr (which is low freelance pay in NYC where I live) for me that would be about $80,000 if you don't count on-call hours and give time and a half for overtime. (Of course, lunch break is usually a "working lunch"). Plus, being a stay at home parent has financially punitive aspects. For example, my social security income for the last 10 years has been $0, lowering my potential benefit severely. And of course, no job benefits, no unemployment insurance, disability insurance.

Parenting represents a huge invisible workload that is largely unaccounted for in economic statistics.