The numbers have spoken. Turns out there is a monetary value we can put on stay-at-home Mums – about $75,000 a year.
Steven Nelms is the head writer and video editor for the US blog, We Are Glory, and has calculated what the services his wife does around the house are worth in salary terms.
His post, titled, ‘Fathers, You Can’t Afford A Stay-At-Home Mum‘ goes through all the chores and tasks his wife Glory does in terms of looking after their son, cooking, cleaning, admin and more. Here’s a quick snapshot of his conservative calculations:
Full-time nanny: $705 per week
Cleaning: $100 per week
Personal shopper: $260 per week
Chef: $240 per week
Laundry: $25 per week
Financial assistant: $15 per hour
Personal assistant: $75 per hour
“Looking objectively at an almost insultingly conservative average of the services rendered, I cannot afford my wife. And let’s remember, there’s no sick leave with childcare, there’s no paid time off, there’s no 401(k). All of the incentives that someone who makes over 70K a year would normally enjoy are not part of this deal. All of the worker appreciations, merit bonuses, and recognition that comes with being a part of an office are out too,” Helms wrote on his blog.
And he’s not the only one who’s crunched the numbers. Salary.com did did a survey of 6,000 American stay-at-home mums which found they would earn $118,000 per year in the paid employment sector. Check out their infographic which breaks each chore down:
Bottom line? Even though the name on the pay cheque might be dad’s, the fact is he probably couldn’t afford to employ your mum at market wages, meaning the value mum bring to an average single-income household is huge.