All those little things a stay-at-home mom does for the family from cooking and cleaning to hauling the children to piano lessons have kicked her monetary value up another notch. If, that is, she were paid for the things she does for kin and kind.
Every year, Insure.com tallies how much time moms spend on different household-related tasks and comes up with an assessment of what the job's worth, based on prevailing average wages.
This year, Mom's market value is $65,284, according to the 2015 Mother's Day Index. That's 3.7 percent more than she was worth last year and 9.1 percent more than in 2013, said a written release from Insure.com, an independent website offering consumer information about insurance.
The valuations are based on the most recent median wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When Insure.com surveyed people, it found that 24 percent of folks think that's about the right range if one's putting a dollar value on Mom's labor, placing it at between $50,000 and $75,000. Another 33 percent said it should be more, while 43 percent said it was worth less.
Insure.com said it's interested in the question of Mom's value because it's important to know when deciding how much life insurance to buy. If a stay-at-home parent weren't present, the services would have to be purchased, according to Catherine Theroux, spokeswoman for LIMRA, which does financial consulting and research.
Here's a sample of what it would cost to hire someone to do some of what Mom does around the house, based on the annual report:
It noted that working moms put in more than full time, too, crediting them with 40 hours regular work and 19.4 hours overtime, for a value of $70,107, based on a job with average pay. That amount would go up or down depending on Mom's actual outside-the-home occupation.
Every year, Insure.com tallies how much time moms spend on different household-related tasks and comes up with an assessment of what the job's worth, based on prevailing average wages.
This year, Mom's market value is $65,284, according to the 2015 Mother's Day Index. That's 3.7 percent more than she was worth last year and 9.1 percent more than in 2013, said a written release from Insure.com, an independent website offering consumer information about insurance.
The valuations are based on the most recent median wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When Insure.com surveyed people, it found that 24 percent of folks think that's about the right range if one's putting a dollar value on Mom's labor, placing it at between $50,000 and $75,000. Another 33 percent said it should be more, while 43 percent said it was worth less.
Insure.com said it's interested in the question of Mom's value because it's important to know when deciding how much life insurance to buy. If a stay-at-home parent weren't present, the services would have to be purchased, according to Catherine Theroux, spokeswoman for LIMRA, which does financial consulting and research.
Here's a sample of what it would cost to hire someone to do some of what Mom does around the house, based on the annual report:
- It would likely cost about $7,371 to do the cooking, of which Mom does an average of 14 hours a week, with a mean hourly wage of $10.13.
- Homework help is even more, at $7,720, with just under eight hours a week, since the mean average wage is $19.30 an hour.
- The biggest chunk of the cost is for Mom's services as a child care worker: 40 hours a week at $11.10 an hour, for $23,088.
- The costliest-per-hour service Mom provides is keeping track of what her brood is up to. That five hours a week adds up because private detectives and investigators make a mean hourly wage of $25.91.
- Mom does provide haircuts at bargain-basement prices, worth a total of $309.40 a year.
It noted that working moms put in more than full time, too, crediting them with 40 hours regular work and 19.4 hours overtime, for a value of $70,107, based on a job with average pay. That amount would go up or down depending on Mom's actual outside-the-home occupation.
