If Moms Earned a Salary, How Much Would They Make?

If Moms Earned a Salary, How Much Would They Make?

Filed under: Salary & Benefits, Just for Fun Print Article

Posted May 9th 2010 7:16AM

By Barbara Safani

With Mother's Day upon us, I've been thinking about the "Mom job" and how many different jobs it really is. Can you imagine if moms got paid for all they do? Obviously moms don't take the job for the money, but it does make you wonder what their earning potential would be if they were actually compensated financially for all they do.

Here is a list of all the jobs moms do and their corresponding salaries according to Payscale:

#	Job Title	Hourly	Annual
1	Daycare teacher	$9.94	$26,600
2	Restaurant cook	$10.52	$28,900
3	Medical assistant	$13.84	$30,200
4	Tutor	$16.74	$35,000
5	Van driver	$10.48	$28,300
6	(Mental Health) Counselor	$19.00	$44,700
7	Housekeeper	$11.05	$29,000
8	Sr. administrative assistant	$17.56	$43,900
9	Event coordinator	$16.40	$45,500
10	Drug counselor	$18.18	$39,800
11	Writer (notes, letters)	$19.06	$51,939
12	DJ	$27.41	$42,700
13	Career counselor	$18.19	$50,300

That adds up to over $500,000 a year, a nice little chunk of change! And I've even got a few of my own jobs to add:

• Referee -- for all that sibling rivalry
• Child advocate -- to deal with the abundances of injustices in most school systems
• Costume designer -- think of all those school plays
• Editor -- how many of your kid's research papers have you had to read?
• Fundraiser -- schools always need people to help them raise money
• Tour guide -- what mom among us hasn't chaperoned a class trip?
• Entertainer -- moms know this one needs no explanation

The list goes on and on. The reality, however, is that women don't get paid a dime for parenting and society tends to value paid work over non-paid work. And even though moms who work outside the home may "outsource" some of these jobs, they still have to squeeze most of these duties into the evenings, weekends and days off.

So what's my point? It's that we all need to thank all the stay-at-home moms and working moms -- not just on Sunday but every day. And, although there's no salary, bonus or service awards, for many moms the "benefits package" makes it all worth it. Happy Mother's Day!