She’s still not getting paid for it, but Mom’s market value went up again

<p lede="true">Compiled by</p><p lede="true"><person>Lois M. Collins</person></p><p><org>Deseret News</org></p><p>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.</p><p>Every year, just in time for <chron>Mother's Day</chron>, <a href="http://Insure.com">Insure.com</a> 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.</p><p>This year, Mom's market value is <money>$65,284</money>, according to the 2015 <chron>Mother's Day</chron> 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 <a href="http://Insure.com">Insure.com</a>, an independent website offering consumer information about insurance.</p><p>The valuations are based on the most recent median wage data from the <org>Bureau of Labor Statistics</org>.</p><p>When <a href="http://Insure.com">Insure.com</a> 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 <money>$50,000</money> and <money>$75,000</money>. Another 33 percent said it should be more, while 43 percent said it was worth less.</p><p><a href="http://Insure.com">Insure.com</a> 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 <person>Catherine Theroux</person>, spokeswoman for LIMRA, which does financial consulting and research.</p><p>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:</p><p>It would likely cost about <money>$7,371</money> to do the cooking, of which Mom does an average of 14 hours a week, with a mean hourly wage of <money>$10.13</money>. Homework help is even more, at <money>$7,720</money>, with just under eight hours a week, since the mean average wage is <money>$19.30</money> an hour. The biggest chunk of the cost is for Mom's services as a child care worker: 40 hours a week at <money>$11.10</money> an hour, for <money>$23,088</money>. 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 <money>$25.91</money>. Mom does provide haircuts at bargain-basement prices, worth a total of <money>$309.40</money> a year. <a href="http://Salary.com">Salary.com</a> puts Mom's stay-at-home value even higher. Last year it said she was worth <money>$118,905</money> based on 40 hours of full-time pay and 56.5 hours of overtime (time-and-a-half) every week. The titles attributed to her various jobs included facilities manager, CEO, laundry operator, computer operator, housekeeper, cook, day care teacher, van driver, janitor and psychologist.</p><p>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 <money>$70,107</money>, based on a job with average pay. That amount would go up or down depending on Mom's actual outside-the-home occupation.</p><p>Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p><p>Twitter: Loisco</p>