What is Mom Really Worth?

So it's Mother's Day; and all the doting sons and daughters are going ape over flowers and candy and mushy e-cards. It's the one day in the year when we get selective amnesia about how mom is always on your case; or how she just does not get you.

But how much is a stay at home mom really worth? People have tried to put a financial value on this for years. The latest attempt comes from Salary.com, an American company that studies workmen's compensation.

Their new study allocated fair wages for a mother under 10 job titles. So what jobs does a non-working ("non-working? You think I just sit on my butt all day? Would you care to switch jobs with me?") Mom do around the house? Think about housekeeper; day care provider; van driver; psychologist and chief executive officer (men who still live under the delusion that they are the boss of the household are a fast vanishing breed).

And then there is the humongous overtime. It is estimated that an average mom puts in almost 95 working hours a week. Compare that with the wimpy 40 hours a week most guys put in. Consider also that, in an office, overtime would be compensated at one and a half to two times the actual wage. You see where this is going?

Ok, time to end the suspense. Salary.com reckons that a fair monetary compensation for an average housewife would be $117,000 per annum. Pretty impressive. Now you don't have to feel guilty for giving her that $10 box of candy.