What is a Mom’s Work Worth? [infographic]

Wow. No wonder I’m exhausted!

Wow. No wonder I’m exhausted!

you forgot “prostitute”

So what about the amount of work that moms who work outside the home as well as carrying the load within the home? I don’t discount stay-at-home moms, but most of us who work full-time still do the work.

Good point Brunn! According to the study, working Moms still manage to put in 55.9 hours each week on top of their regular jobs. At that rate, working Moms would earn $63,472 in addition to their regular annual salary.

I totally agree! Men get home from work and know their day is over, they look at you crazy if you ask them to do something for the kids but women, we know we still have another 6 to 8 hours of work!

WOWWWWW! This is SOOOOO TRUE AND AMAZING!!!!! Men don’t appreciate how much we do on a daily basis!!~!!!!

How about dads? Believe it or not, some do a lot of work *and* have the worry of paying the bills.

I hear you Bendetoy! The average hourly wage for all of the duties described in the survey comes in around $17.90. So take the number of hours you put in during the week, multiply by 17.9, then multiply again by 52 (number of weeks in the year), and you’ll get your salary. If you put in more than 40 hours/week use $26.85 (overtime rate) for each hour over 40. 40 hours = $37k, 50 hours = $51k. That OT adds up quickly.

The hourly rate is assuming men and women spend equal proportions of time performing the roles mentioned. For example, the rate would be higher if you spent more time as CEO, or lower if you spent more time doing laundry. So the trick is to figure out how to do more of the more lucrative jobs.

The hourly rate is assuming men and women spend equal proportions of time performing the roles mentioned. For example, the rate would be higher if you spent more time as CEO, or lower if you spent more time doing laundry. So the trick is to figure out how to do more of the more lucrative jobs.

Attached image: breakdown of the hourly rate for each of the jobs described above.

My wife is CEO at our house. I’ll never make the big bucks.

Love it!

I do think they underestimate the number of hours worked by the working mom here…you don’t see the breadown of what she’s doing beyond her paid workday.

Hey @8873413a4ecc5b6299a44fcc888194e2:disqus, it’s not in the infographic but according to the study, working Moms still manage to put in 55.9 hours each week on top of their regular jobs (bringing home $63,472 in addition to her regular salary).

MOTHER’S DAY IS OVER BUTTHORN!

Where do moms pick up their check? This would definitely help in our family.

Where do moms pick up their check? This would definitely help in our family.

Hey Frank, I’d like you to meet my friend… THE BANHAMMER! Making the world a better place, one troll at a time.

2legit 2quit

I wish I was getting this money

I’d like to put this on my site, but your post is too large for my blog page. How can I change your code so it will fit a blog page with 2 sidebars?

Well it’s not $115k, but we’re giving away $500 every week on our Facebook page if you’re in the market for free money. http://facebook.com/DegreeSearch

Rachel, email me a link to your site and I’ll send you the updated code. My address is mike.metcalf [at] degreesearch.org

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 Horse Hockey.  If someone really did these things in one position, the HR department would certainly find them to be a salaried employee.

I have read this more than once, and I agree wholeheartedly.  I never have found a harder job than being at home full time. And now I work part time from home too.  It’s exhausting.  But so worth every second.

This is fantastic! I am amazed how right on it is! And that ad is hilarious! Thank you for brightening a SAHM day!

Man, my family could use all that extra money now that I’m an at home mom…. I can speak on both sides of it because I did work for a while too, its easier on mom to be home with the kids but work is almost a break from them, its adults to talk to…. but I won’t miss working!!

 Why don’t they put it into the infographic?  Not to discredit SAHM’s but I am a single mother I work full time, I do not get child support.  So, all my housework and running errands has to be done after 4pm. I don’t get weekends to chill and relax it’s all catching up with laundry and house work.  SAHM get the a full day to get everything done, if I left the dishes there from dinner..they would sit there a full 8 hours or more before I could get to them the next day.  Although, SAHM’s care for kids non stop from sunrise to sunset, they definitely put up with a lot.  But, from a convenience standpoint, they have it made.

God this is sexist, biased and completely devoid of logic. I’m a single dad and I work 40 hours a week at a full time job in ADDITION to everything above……and I aint complaining about my salary. Not to mention the ENTIRE point of having a job is so you can CONTRIBUTE to society, not your little family bubble. the world dosen’t give a shit weather you make betty crocker dinners or 7 course meals. the world cares what you give back to it in a tangible way. so until you start actually putting effort into helping society, instead of simply dumping all your efforts into just your tiny little circle, maybe you’de understand why the rest of us get so upset when our hard-earned tax dollars go to support you non-working self-righteous “I’m doing the best that I can” stay-at-home-moms.

get a job. and if you don’t want to do that, stop complaining about all the “hard work” you have to do. because frankly…..I’d give anything to be able to spend my time with my kid, doing simple things like cleaning dishes, than spending laborious hours working on projects for corporate giants. be happy you have what you have.

 First off…I completely and utterly agree with what you said!  I don’t
think it’s not that they don’t want to contribute, I understand the
financial part of having the wife or husband stay home to raise the
kids.   But, I am a single mom, with 2 boys, and work 40 hours a week. I would LOVE to stay home with my kiddos and help them grow.  But, we need insurance and to survive.  As I said in my post below that it’s much more convenient being a stay at home mom or dad.  I couldn’t imagine staying home all day just to do house work, run errands, and run a household.  I have to do ALL that after my 8 hours of workin’ for the man and use my vacation time to take sick kids (which seems to be all the time) to dr’s appts and using sick time (which you only get so much) to care for them when they are ill.  And when my sick time is all used up, I have to end up working 12 hour days to get in my 40 hours.   It’s so hard and so stressful. 

I would like to know how your tax dollars are supporting this stay at home mom. My husband works to support our family and I work to make sure that what he earns stretches to meet the needs of our family. I grow a big garden, cook healthy meals so we don’t have to spend that money on “healthcare,” and I am the fixit person for a lot of what breaks down around here so we don’t have to hire it out as often. I may be home with my children, but I am doing my best to teach them a work ethic and to be responsible so they aren’t using someone’s tax dollars, either. There are a lot of ways to contribute to society and just having a job does not guarantee that you are making a positive contribution. Maybe your discontent with your own situation is transferring into needless judgment and condemnation of those that are working hard at bringing up the next generation. SAHMs get a lot of bad raps for what they do like they are second class citizens. My husband just told me that if he had to pay me for what I’m worth he would be bankrupt.

 ”Maybe your discontent with your own situation is transferring into
needless judgment and condemnation of those that are working hard at
bringing up the next generation.”

Well put, Serena. This isn’t a piece to bash single dads, but a graphic to illustrate the good that moms do. Don’t you have a mother dtm? Show some respect.

I’m sorry but I hate the fact that this graphic continues to fan the “war” between working moms and those who stay home.  Guess what, plenty of us work 40+ hours a week at a job outside the home and then come home to laundry, housework, taking kids to activities… etc.  You show that $63,000 figure and compare it to the $115,000 as if it was somehow less work if you happen to work outside of the home.  The truth is, as mothers and fathers we all have hard roads to hoe, regardless of where we work, and everyone should respect that and refrain from judgment.  

“…I hate the fact that this graphic continues to fan the ‘war’ between working moms and those who stay home.”

Mandy, I can assure you that wasn’t the intent of the graphic. The study notes that Working Moms still manage to put in 55.9 hours in ADDITION to their regular job. The way the math breaks down just credits more overtime hours to SAHMs.

To be fair, maybe the Working Mom hours should ALL be counted as overtime (assuming you work a full 40 hours at your regular job). In that case they would be making $78,048 annually ON TOP of their regular salary.

Honestly though, the whole point of this graphic is to give props to all Moms. You do so much work that often goes unseen and under appreciated. So to you Mandy, and to all moms and dads, give yourselves a pat on the back.

working moms also clean, cook, do homework, pick up kids, plan parties, etc. we do it all as our second shift, so I’m certain that all comes out to more than 96 hours a week.

Why do these things always count every second of a stay-at-home mom’s 24-hour day and compare it the 9-5 of a working mom? Do people think that working moms come home and get massages and sleep? All the working moms I know still play with their kids as much as they can and still have drive around, shop, cook and get up at night… what is the point of this crap exactly?

168 hours total in a week. Work (-40), Sleep (-56) = 96. This means at your estimation you have exactly zero hours a week for anything other than Mom duties. TV, movies, internet, personal hobbies, organizations, math… none of that right?

“Why do these things always count every second of a stay-at-home mom’s 24-hour day and compare it the 9-5 of a working mom?”

See my reply to Mandyt above.

168 hours total in a week. Work (-40), Sleep (-56) = 96. This means at your estimation you have exactly zero hours a week for anything other than Mom duties. TV, movies, exercise, personal hobbies, organizations, trolling blogs, math… none of that right?

i’d pay twice the going rate if she’d just do one third of what’s on the list

how much for laying around all day, getting fat, and complaining that my knee hurts

 Great discussion piece!  I think it’s not about the math or the numbers, and more about bringing attention to how much a SAH parent does. And no matter how many hours we clock, the work is never done ;0

I feel good

A lot of people here seem to have problems with not only reading the entire infographic and all the comments but giving themselves credit as well. Just because you’re a single parent working a 40+ hour/week job and this infographic doesn’t mention you doesn’t mean you do any less work than the people mentioned above. You are still a valued person and you are doing your best just like Stay at Home moms do. One silly little infographic doesn’t change that.

I love this post. I shared it on Facebook. I have been looking for something like this for years.

I would just say thou, you point out that SAHM get the full day to get everything done, I would totally disagree I have to do everything once my kids have gone to bed because they are around my ankles for the whole day. I wish I could just come home and clean my house once a day instead of having to continually clean it. I probably do the same thing about four times a day! Not convenient at all! I am desperate to get a job so that I can feel like I have achieved something during the day! But either way, whether your working or not it’s a lot of work being a mum

The women are whining. My whiny wife got her bachelors and masters on my dime, then had kids, then kept buying shit on my dime, then didn’t like playing with the boys, so I come home to spend all of my evenings and weekends playing with the boys. I do the laundry, and she cooks. She cooks like if she didn’t spend 5 hours in the kitchen a day we’d all f*&^%ing starve. But when she’s not around to cook, the boys actually get fresh vegetables because I insist. The house is a disaster because she doesn’t like cleaning. Oh but the gardens are gorgeous, thanks to all the money spent at Home Depot’s garden center. And if you think I’m the only man in my shoes who both brings in the 65K a year for her to have her fun, you’re way whinier than the others. I would give anything to be a full-time stay-at-home dad. And I know. I’ve done that. It’s easier. Quit whining. Jesus!

Ha! This cracked me up! You’re whining about your whining wife. Let’s just agree we are all a bunch of whiny twats. Because life is hard and some times people suck.

Ps sounds like you need a new wife or a new set of balls. And I mean that the nicest way possible.

Fair enough. Life isn’t always fair and I’m whining about my whiny wife. But the point some of us here are trying to make is this: Try as you may, you will not find the same blogs pointing out how hard fathers work and how responsibly they parent and how little their wives pay them. This article does nothing but point out to a bunch of whiny women with low self confidence that they are valuable. And it does so in an argumentative and confrontational manner by comparing them with men in a monetary capacity. BS. Many fathers work hard. Most fathers do their part. If men don’t give women credit, they should, and some complaining is justified, but quit your whining at my expense. Some men do more than their fair share. This article is gender biased, period. Let’s talk about fathers like me who bring home the bacon AND take on more than half of the parenting responsibilities. And now that your done cracking up at my expense, show a little compassion for the other gender side. Because this article is purely one-sided. What cracks me up is how many moms out there think their responsibilities are soooo hard, without ever having tried the other role. Whiners. How is it that stay-at-home moms deserve 115K in monetary payment a year when our household income is only 65K/yr and I work and father full-time and overtime, too? I suppose we middle-class men now owe our wives 50K per year every year of the rest of our lives? Sounds like the defensive whining of a small crowd of underconfident moms. What ever happened to the 60s feminists who, instead of complaining like this, went out and got jobs? I know. My mom was one. She got a job. It’s the left-over jobless and bored ones who sit here and come up with 50 hrs of OT a week. BS. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves at your husbands’ expense. 

One more thing, plain and simple: “What’s a Mom’s Work Worth?” is answered very simply: A caring, loving, responsible mom is worth all the money in the world and them some. Same goes for good dads. It’s not about money. It’s about good moms and dads who try. (I’m done whining now.)

Hey John, I wrote the article and designed the infographic. It was actually released right around Mother’s Day which is why I didn’t focus too much on Dads. For the sake of equality (and because I’m a Dad myself), let’s consider a few more numbers:

Let’s assume you put in 50 hours of parenting/home duties on top of your regular 40-hour job. Since you’ve already put in your 40 at work, we’ll give you the benefit of counting this as overtime. Using the same average hourly wage, your overtime would come in around $26.85/hour x 50 hours/week x 52 weeks, which adds up to $69,810 annually on top of your regular salary. Not a bad bonus, right?

But like you say, it’s not about the money, it’s about good moms and dads who try.

They forgot teacher!

Does daycare teacher count?

I actually clean up 4-5 times a day not just once and still get woken up at least once a night. The real clean up happens when the kids are finally in bed. And I do not get paid for my daytime job.

SAHM may have a full day, but we usually have the kids with us all day. That is where Day care teacher comes in. I have two 5 year olds and it has taken a lot to keep them occupied over the last 3 years. I don’t let them just watch t.v. all day. I prepare crafts, take them on “field trips” and clean up after them all day. If you work outside the home, your child is outside the home as well. When you come home from work, the same amount of mess that you left is there. SAHM have to keep at it all day.

There should never be a comparison between working outside the home and stay at home. We’re all moms and it’s is hard no matter what. Some moms work because they need to, some because they want to. Some SAHM stay at home because they need to and some because they want to. Either way, choice or not, it is our everyday life and we should support each other. I have a very wonderful and involved husband and I know that makes me lucky and helps take some of the work away from me. I feel for people who don’t have a partner to share some of the load with.

Good luck to all parents out there!!!!

What a sad partnership you have. Maybe you should quit whining and look at the choices you’ve made. Just because you’re not happy with your wife, doesn’t give you the right to look down on everyone else. As SAHM in my house, I manage the finances-and make sure to not over spend. I cook and we all get fresh vegetables and fruit EVERYDAY.

A few comments mention wives whining that their husband “owes” them the money…Who said we wanted to be paid! It is just an observation about what society pays respective occupations outside the home! There is nothing wrong with putting a monetary value on what PARENT’S do everyday (for the paycheck of love-worth more than any buck ever will!) Each of us knows what we do, and what we’re worth.

My brother is a single father of 4 children ranging from 5 to 14. He works full time as well. He wouldn’t give up his children for anything. He is amazing.

I call BS.  No one is going to hire a stay-at-home mom to be a Psychologist or CEO based SOLELY on her experience of being a stay-at-home mom.  You’re worth what someone’s willing to pay.  I say we should adjust the chart to jobs the mother might ACTUALLY get given JUST the experience of being a stay-at-home mom.  So let’s run down the list with this in mind:

Jobs a mother could get:
–Housekeeper – $10,200
–Janitor – $5,100
–Laundry Machine Operator – $3,700
–Van Driver – $7,700
–Cook – $12,500

Jobs a mother couldn’t get without training:
–Day Care Teacher
–Facilities Manager
–Computer Operator
–Psychologist
–CEO

That brings it to $39,200.  And it’s debatable whether anyone would hire a mother to be a cook for $35,000/year (the wage used in the chart above).  I’d say she’d be lucky to land a cook job at the local slop house for $15,000.  That will adjust the cook wages to $5,250.  That brings that number to $31,950.  And if we wanted to bring this into the real world even further, no one is going to go out and actually LEAVE the house for 5 jobs.  With commute times and scheduling issues, 3 jobs seems to be the maximum given the number of hours worked.  So we’ll be fair and take the top 3 paying jobs (Housekeeper, Driver, Cook) a stay-at-home mother could ACTUALLY get with just her experience at home and we get the grand total of (drum roll please):

$23,150 for 37.3 hours of work.

THAT’S reality. 

I wonder how much the real world would pay for trolling blogs.

No troll.  Just sick of everyone overvaluing themselves.  I’m tired of people breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back.  

I carry the groceries from the car to the house, does that mean I should enter the Mr. America contest?  Afterall, a lot of the bags were pretty heavy.  I’m sure there isn’t anything more involved in weightlifting. 

Also, I commute to work every day, that should qualify me to enter the NASCAR circuit, right?  I’ve also flown in an airplane, maybe that would qualify me to be an astronaut!  Holy smokes, I’m being robbed of what I’m really worth! 

Finally someone as dreary as me enters this conversation. Thanks @Test. I was feeling a little ganged up on by the whiners. The author deserves credit nonetheless. He put this together on Mother’s Day to show moms some appreciation  Well done Mike. Now back to criticism. Part of what’s wrong with this entire country is our perspective on value. Young men and women who were taught a generation ago that money runs the world, and that it’s easy to get, are working in big banks, on Wall Street and in our government, where, despite huge failure, they are still trying to fix the economy be telling us to buy more sh*t from China using borrowed money that no one has. If we would all step back from this mentality that says we deserve $$$$$ for everything we do, maybe we, as a nation, would actually start investing our hard work and ingenuity into rebuilding our failed economy. SAHMs and SAHDs are infinitely valuable. But they can’t be worth as much as Mike calculated, because what his graph shows me is how much CEOs and other white-collar jobs are overpaid in today’s economy. So Mike, on Mother’s Day 2012, show us how valuable she is without causing a theoretical economic bubble: flowers and kisses are wonderful.

John and Test,

Obviously the “CEO” role a parent performs can’t be realistically compared to the CEO of a company. The infographic was a fun way to honor women who put aside their careers to take up the mommy mantle. Flowers and kisses are great, but make for a less interesting discussion.

Thanks for your comments.

Mike, why did you create an infographic suggest that all moms are van drivers? According to answers.com 61% of US adults drive cars. Certainly not all of those are vans. You need to spend less time appreciating moms and more time checking your facts, bub.

Interesting! According to another article I found on answers.com, 100% of DegreeSearch.org Mother’s Day infographic authors feel like running you over with a van right now.

Who gets 56 hours of sleep a week? I don’t know any mom, SAHM or WOHM, that gets that much sleep.

You people need to find some worthwhile men.  When I get home from my typical 10-12 hour day at work, I go to work some more; helping my wife with dishes, cooking, taking care of kids, general housekeeping, etc.  So don’t lump all men with the lot of lazy a-holes you associate with.

True!  There are a few good ones out there, my husband included!  He will help me with dishes/laundry and general cleaning whenever, and he is fantastic at keeping the little one occupied!   Give great dads credit where credit is due!

I think the hours spent in the kitchen are over estimated, considering that the average family eats out 3-4 times a week. Ant the “van driver” that’s optional  stressors added to one’s individual lives. I cook and clean, but he helps out a ton, with the kids, he  takes them a bath, reads stories to them, does the dishes and cleans up. I am grateful to have such a hardworking man in my life. He’s not perfect, but he’s better than most out there, he doesn’t beat me, isn’t out and the bars all night and isn’t out with his friends all the time, and works a full time and runs a small business on the side. And he cooks on weekends. I do agree we live in a “me, me, me ” society.

I think you’re wife needs to be more appreciative of the things you do.

It all makes sense now why I’m so pooped!

 Ditto. (but I don’t have that long of a work-day!)

I understand how difficult a parent’s job is. I try – and fail frequently – to ‘attend whole-heartedly to my duties.’ Katie.

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I’ll have to show this to my hubby

Wow can I times that all by 6 please x Being a mum is the most difficult yet so rewarding job of all x 

So I wonder what dads are worth.  Let’s see…what’s the overtime rates for plumber, car mechanic, bike mechanic, appliance mechanic, handyman, arborist, financial planner, tax preparer–all those jobs that dads do 100%, plus we are expected to do 50% of the child care.

A more affordable way answer the question is to hire the services of a real estate professional that will provide an estimate of value free of charge. The reason a real estate consultant can provide the comparable sales analysis for free is because they want to have the opportunity to develop a relationship with the home owner.

Only a mother who has never worked a real job would claim that she’s worth more than a working mom. It’s great to give yourself a pat on the back, but don’t think for a second that you work harder than a working mom.

Who’s claiming they’re worth more than a working mom? Sounds to me like you’re saying the opposite is true.

So what constitutes a real job? Being paid for what you do? Being self-employed? Working for someone else? I think defining a “real job” is subjective as you were writing it. I’ve worked a “real” job (employed by someone else) and I’ve worked as a mother. I would say the hardness of being a stay at home mom or a mom that also works outside the home are probably about equal, but you don’t get paid for staying at home. The trade-off of having more work at home (growing food, putting up food, repairing things myself, sewing, cooking from scratch, making things before buying them, careful research to get the best possible price on what we need) but seeing more of my children and husband makes it worth it to me. Most “working” women have someone else watching their children (daycare, school), eat out more and buy more expensive ready-to-eat foods to compensate for the time it takes to work. They are more likely to pay someone to do the stuff that stay at home moms do to save money. It does not make one worth more than the other. If you want to work outside the home, then work. I want to be home with my family and enjoy the same benefits that go with being self-employed (after all I am my own boss on my turf). It really depends on what is important to the person making the choice.  

I agree that there are some of you out there but you are few and far between. My husband can definately take some lessons from guys like you. BUT, I still think that in MOST cases its the moms that carry the brunt of the duties.  If my husband were more helpful, I would be happy to share my hypathetical income with him, but until then, I deserve the credit. LOL.

Dude, your taking this a little wrong. This is more targeted toward people that say stay at home moms don’t “work”.  Obviously what you are doing is valuable and this above is in no way saying anything about what you are doing as good or bad. Of course you want to pend time with your kids, it is also not saying that you should stop working and only spend time with your kids, cause obviously that won’t either in your situation. Again the intent of this is that what stay at homes do is important. You need to take a step back. If a family can afford it, it is a good thing and that she or he as the case may be is valuable as well as someone that is “employed”.

Wow.  This comment seems really bitter.  I am a stay-at-home mom, and I can tell you that my “little circle” involves local politics that are changing our community irrevocably and for the worse.  My “little circle” also involves advocating at the school board, for a system that is broken.

I don’t ask anyone to pay my way in the world, not you and not your tax dollars.  Staying at home is much harder than you, or anyone who has never done it, can imagine.  But really?  I matters little to me if you have respect for that or not.  I know that I am raising kids who will be healthy in the world.

I can’t help but project a bit and pity your kids who will have a childhood like mine, with an angry parent that thinks he are more important out there in the big world, working on projects for corporate giants that probably cause more community breakdown than contribution.  I’d check that superior attitude, it is probably causing you all kinds of stress that trickles down at your house.

We’re all doing the best we can with what we have and what we choose to do.  If you really believe the above, and it gives you peace in your life, that’s terrific.  If not, consider finding a better way forward.

I think working mums also do rather a lot of this stuff too.

Sorry, damn enter button. Depending on one’s daycare arrangements, I think working moms manage to do most of the above. Just trying to work out which bits working moms DON’T do.

They definitely do. Working Moms deserve serious props for all their hard efforts at home on top of their day jobs.

I’m going to include this into today’s blog post. Watch for it in the next half hour or so. Courtesy of Bless a Blog! No wonder I’m so tired.