Study Finds Stay-At-Home Moms Should Make $178,201 A Year — Should Taxpayers Cover It?
Would you pay?
sandsun / Shutterstock Since she started to strut her way down the catwalk of life in 1959, Barbie has held over 200 jobs.
A true icon, Barbie has seen and done it all. In 1965 she became an astronaut. In the ’90s she ran for president of the U.S., the first woman — albeit a doll — to appear on the ballot.
It’s no secret that her CV would impress the minds of any average LinkedIn Recruiter (still waiting for that Barbie to come out, honestly).
Besides being a breathless, sensational, plastic gaggle of arms and legs, there’s another profession that requires multiple career paths be intertwined into one: being a stay-at-home mom.
Not every Mom can say that they’ve launched their career as a professional scuba diver, robotic engineer, Olympic athlete and had the chance to run for president a la Barbie. But a registered nurse, lifeguard, babysitter, and elementary school teacher? Now those are all professions that any mom has to dabble in.
Barbie, of course, Barbie doesn't need to worry about generating income. She has no mouth to feed, bills to pay, or roof to keep over her head — so she can do whatever she wants.
But a stay-at-home mom? Those are as real as they come, and also like Barbie, not a penny do they make.
Should stay-at-home moms be paid a salary from your tax dollars?
Moms do a lot for their kids and society, work that often goes without compensation. It may be time to rethink what moms are worth.
An updated estimation of the value of a mother’s work was recently released by Salary.com.
By tracking real-time market prices of every position a mom performs in 2019, an approximate salary of $178,201 was formed. That’s $15,620 more than last year's calculation.
"Parents hold the ultimate hybrid job at home,” said Sarah Reynolds, who is the Vice President of Marketing at Salary.com. "They’re CEOs, judges, academic advisors, and so much more.”
Too bad the stay-at-home mom position isn’t one that can be typed neatly onto a resume in twelve-point times new roman.
That said, if we were to pay stay-at-home moms, where would this money come from? Taxpayers forking out for moms to stay at home might not be too happy with this new salary estimate!
The last year has pushed parents to the brink. Parental responsibilities have increased at an alarming rate.
In-person teachers, babysitters, housekeepers, soccer coaches became a safety risk in a matter of a few days, with moms everywhere stepping in to take over.
“The role of Mom requires a diverse skillset that commands serious market value in the talent market,” Reynolds said, “and with new demands on Mom’s time arising every day, we only expect their market value to increase in the future. The immense dedication and work ethic of modern moms does not go unnoticed or unappreciated, and we were not at all surprised at the increased salary we calculated this year, nor do we expect this pace of growth to slow over the next five years.”
Without the ability to ask for extra help, the already difficult work of being a stay-at-home mom has only become more emotionally taxing, physically exhausting, and thankless.
Not everyone thinks stay-at-home moms should be paid.
On March 6, 2017, WUSA 9 took to Facebook and asked, “According to Salary.com a stay-at-home mom’s worth averages at $140,102. Do you think that’s too low or too high?”
“Not when the average teacher is making less than $60,000 a year,” someone wrote, “Imagine multiplying that by 30 and having to try to educate them.”
It's true that teachers are extremely underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated.
Stay-at-home moms can work from home, but grocery store clerks, doctors, and housekeepers cannot.
While the study is interesting and fun to think about, is it practical?
Izzy Casey is a writer who covers pop culture.