What is Digg?80 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+62I bought mine for $5000.
- indyGuy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+53"Yeah, but you're NOT a gourmet chef honey. And, to be honest, the cleaning lady you hired before that party did a much better job than you've EVER done."
- SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36http://opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110010021
And how much does Dad cost?
We emailed Salary.com's PR man, who quickly replied that the company did in fact do a survey on dads, which it released last June:
Salary.com, Inc., the compensation experts, announced today the dad's version of its popular Mom's Salary Wizard. "We got a lot of feedback from dads, asking 'What are we worth?' " said Kevin Cuddeback Director of New Product Development at Salary.com, "so we did additional research and calculated $71,160 for working dads and $125,340 for stay-at-home dads-for the 'dad job' portion of all their work."
So, what does this mean? Let's take a traditional family in which the father has a full-time job and the mother stays home. In 2006 the mother's work in the home was worth $134,121, according to Salary.com, while the father's work in the home was worth $71,160. That's a difference of $62,961. Ladies, if your husband makes less than $62,961, file for divorce now. You're getting ripped off.
Actually, hold off for just a minute. It turns out Salary.com's figures are distorted to inflate the putative value of the stay-at-home parent's work. As the press release for the dad survey notes:
* Dads don't earn as much overtime as moms for their stay-at-home jobs.
* The typical working dad earned no overtime in his 39.6-hour dad's work week, while working moms earned, on average, 27% of their "mom salary" in overtime.
In other words, Salary.com credits the wife/mother in our hypothetical couple with time-and-a-half because she works more than 40 hours a week in the home. The husband/father gets no credit for overtime even though the work he does at home is in addition to a full-time job, because each of them individually takes less than 40 hours of his week.
This whole exercise is a study in feminist absurdity. Feminists sought equal opportunity for women in the workplace, which was entirely reasonable. But to further the goal of equality in commercial labor, they disparaged domestic labor and the women who do most of it. The Salary.com survey implicitly accepts the assumption that commercial labor is the only kind that is valuable, and then assigns a "value" to domestic labor by pretending as if it were commercial. - Easty, on 10/12/2007, -5/+36Treat her right. Treat yo mama right.
/Mr T - stlcadet11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30Those 5K ones are the ones that put you in nursing homes...
- ipen, on 10/12/2007, -4/+27Ah, yes, but what's the pricetag on a kid these days? Especially one who will turn around and help take care of you when you're old and retired?
- ablez3, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24i thought this story was about M.I.L.Fs
- CurToast, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24Buried inaccurate. Though perhaps "unscientific" would be a better word. When last I checked (last year, about the same figure), Salary.com was using mean earnings for careers like "CEO", "Psychologist", and "Licensed Chauffeur". Your average homemaker, frankly, doesn't have the training and education to do *any* of these jobs. For a more accurate value, try this one: http://www.moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P46800.asp.
Or, if you really want something to sink your teeth into, there's "Evaluation of Homemaker Services: Replacement Cost,
Opportunity Cost, or Something Else?": http://nafe.net/JFE/j02_2_08.pdf . Be forewarned: they use real numbers, not values inflated for sentimental appeal. - AsSubtleAsABrik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I'd be a stay at home dad while my wife worked 50 hour weeks in the office but alas, equal rights means woman can do a man's job, but a man can't do a woman's.
I know a couple stay at home dads. They're called unemployed. - thelastcivilian, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21And everything I do after work should be compensated too... how much would I be worth? Some things are necessary to live. We can't just complain that we're not respected because we have to cook our own dinner.
- catalysis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13CEO is a bit of a stretch too.
- UltraMegaFilms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14This story is ***** *****. Feminism needs an enema.
- smokatronic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I'm lucky if I can get my wife to put in 3 hours a day. If I don't do it, it won't get done.
- jrtcs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10You entire year's salary.
- DeskFlyer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11"I bought mine for $5000."
Five grand??? What a rip-off. - HoboMaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11"Five grand??? What a rip-off."
Yeah, I made mine for free. A lot more fun that way too. - GawtMilk, on 10/12/2007, -9/+18Funkstar's got an Oedipus complex!
"Mom, to me you're worth much more than $150,000. Millions, in fact. Now take off that bra..." - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+17Raising your own children shouldn't be considered a job. *****, I wish I had received enough work benefits to take time off and spend more time with my child. Sadly I am a man, and have about 20% of the rights that a woman has.
And if you ask me, my mum is worth considerably more than $138,095 - sofaKing812, on 10/12/2007, -7/+15This is surprising considering that $138,095 is $138,090 more than your mom charged me last night.
- Travisx2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8This Just in:
IRS to start taxing families on perceived income from mom's labor! - Wolfie351, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7BS For that price, you could get 2 full time housekeepers AND a live in au pair...preferably 19 or 20 years old, hot, from europe
- VivaLaNation, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Please no one show my wife this...
- SpaceMonkeyZero, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11She charges by the minute? What a bargain!
- darkslide29, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I wouldn't pay someone $140,000 to be barefoot in the kitchen and make me a sandwich
- theblackgecko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Plus, look at the jobs they targeted women for: "housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist." Out of that list, the CEO gets a great salary, psychologist may or may not get a great salary (but not at the level of training that most people have), and the rest barely pay above minimum wage.
Agreed that this is feminist *****. And I'm glad to know that someone is standing up for all the work that men do and get no compensation for. - saintdesy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7$138,095 only makes sense if you include the sex. You can hire a homely illegal immigrant woman to do the rest for min wage + board (and that's being generous).
Wow, that was a really misogynist comment. Oh well. - logicnazi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This doesn't even make any ***** sense!!
If this is supposed to be the figure for what it would cost to REPLACE a mother's work in the home then it's a meaningful notion. However, figuring out the pay they would get if they were paid for all their work is like asking how much a ski bum deserves if he was paid for all the time he spends skiing.
I mean here is a news flash. We all (even us single guys) clean our houses, cook dinners and do all the other things necessary to maintain our lives. I mean it makes no more sense to talk about what a mother would make if she were paid for making dinner than it does to talk about what I would make if I was paid to make my own dinner.
Now some people might argue that mothers, unlike me, provide services for others by making food for their children. This is true but irrelevant. HAVING KIDS IS A CHOICE PEOPLE MAKE BECAUSE THEY GET SATISFACTION FOR HAVING KIDS. IT MAKES NO MORE SENSE TO TALK ABOUT WHAT MOTHERS DESERVE TO BE PAID BECAUSE THEY CHOOSE TO HAVE KIDS THEN IT DOES TO TALK ABOUT WHAT I DESERVE TO BE PAID FOR CARING FOR MY DOG. The very fact that people choose to have children is proof that the benefit they think they will get for kids is worth the cost they are paying. Raising children is no different from having a skiing hobby, both require the expenditure of time and money to get something you think is worth it, except that many people think it is far more rewarding.
The division of labor in having children is entirely a matter to be decided between the parents. The idea that women are placed under some great burden because they have to have children is absurd since in this day and age they could just choose not to have them. Now perhaps you might believe that somehow men trick women into doing an unfair amount of the work for the children. However, I have yet to see the slightest bit of evidence for this. In fact, even given that everyone knows that women usually end up doing more child care work, in most couples I know it is the woman who wants to have kids more than the guy. THUS IT SEEMS LIKE THE RATIO OF WORK PUT IN TO PERCEIVED BENEFIT FROM CHILD IS GREATER FOR WOMEN THEN MEN. Many men I know would not judge the benefit from children worth the effort if they had to put in the same effort that most women do. It is only fair that the individual who really really wants to undertake the responsibility put in more effort than the person who wouldn't otherwise think it was worth it.
I mean c'mon people. Suppose my dream life was to spend all my time skiing in various resorts around the world but my wife, while enjoying skiing, didn't think it was worth the expense and trouble all the time. Would it really be fair for me to demand she work hard at her job to fund half of the ski trips she wouldn't go one if I didn't insist or to spend equal time planning and arranging the trips? Obviously not. As the person with the greater desire to go on the trips it is only fair for me to undertake more of the responsibility and underwrite more of the cost. It works just the same with having children. - gmprunner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You're right. Sure, Moms before a variety of jobs, but the majority of them are not full-time. It's more like they do a little of each job instead of each job fully. Don't get me wrong, Moms work hard and all, but this "analysis" is misleading.
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Rather implicit in their little study is that only women stay at home. It's a fine example of hypocrisy. It's almost meta-hypocrisy, or recursive hypocrisy. I don't know; I'm no philosopher.
- strangewill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@rnwen2750:
I say unless both issues are addressed, you can keep getting paid $.75 on the dollar. You fight for equality, you'll get all of it, not just pick and choose what equalities you want. Frankly, IMHO: Unless equality is going to be fought on ALL fronts, I don't give a damn over your self-interest covered up as "equality".
Anyway, I would feel bad, but then again the .75 studies seem inaccurate, being as it's hard to account for additional learning, different businesses, etc. I bet if you do a study of races, age groups, etc. you'll get some weird statistics too.
Not to mention, just about every woman in my work place makes more than me, and they're doing lesser jobs, how is that fair? I could do statistics at my work place and come up with the opposite. :P Statistics are tricky. - bumb1ebee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Sorry but the things that moms do -cleaning, raising kids, laundry, cooking, etc.- require very little skill. It's tough work, yes, but so is construction and garbage collecting.
- Cooter007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I fix everything that breaks, cut grass, do all the yard work, take care of three cars, do a majority of the cooking.....taught my son how to play football,baseball,golf,tennis,drive a stick and I work a full time job. How much is that worth? Stupid salary.com "Men get no respect!"
- benhirsch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6This is just stupid. If I always eat out/order in, pay a maid to clean once a week, and have my laundry sent out (wash/dry/fold), it would cost much, much less than that (ignoring the fact that food and cleaning supplies still need to be purchased for a stay at home mother). Granted I am not factoring in child care, but even with it, how can the grand total come even close to $138k? I am missing something big here? Sex?
- Kyderdog, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7You screwed a corpse?
- rnwen2750, on 10/12/2007, -13/+18Wow. 20% the rights? You realize that is utter crap, right? When women make 75 cents per every dollar a man makes for the exact same job?
- darkstar949, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yup, I would like to see what a report for the "average husband" would be for a family of four - most fathers act as mechanic, landscaper, handyman, coach, and teacher; some even cook and clean the house. All of this is while working at least 40 hours a week at their job as well. Factor it all in and odds are they are "worth" as much or more than a stay at home mom.
- Veight, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I'd rather hire a Mexican to do it for $1,380.95 a year. This just proves that Moms are not cost effective after they're done making babies.
- burgerboy06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think I'd rather be a homemaker than a pretty much any other job. I'd stay home while my wife goes 9 to 5 in a cube. That's right, I'd rather watch The View than create TPS reports.
- benitojuarez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Pffft going to soaps.net does not warrant a "computer operator" title. Well maybe in the same way I'm a "Waste Management Technician" after flushing the toilet.
- bruinexmo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5The real lesson? Don't have kids. Save yourself a butt-load of money.
- ultrastooge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Now Ladies and Gentlemen, take my wife...Please
- HeyArnold, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4but... they're not making that.
I get the point that if they were PAID for the jobs they do they'd make a lot of money.
but that's like saying that people who get laid alot could be making alot of money.
Its a useless fact. Im not discounting what stay-at-home moms/and now dads do, but im pretty sure they dont care what they could be getting paid for taking care of their own kids. - theblackgecko, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7@rnwen
That is ***** and you know it. Women get paid less because they choose jobs that pay less.
The main reason that women get paid less is because they do more desirable jobs. Jobs that involve significant risk of loss of life and limb, such as fisherman, fireman, policeman, and garbageman, are all done by men. Women (generally) take jobs in much safer occupations. How many of y'all know a man who had to leave work due to injury? How many know a woman?
Even in the same industry, women generally prefer working fewer hours and during business hours. If a woman is working 9-5 while a man puts in 100 hour weeks doing the same job, the man should be paid 2.5 times as much. Sadly, that is rarely the case. Actually, at some point, the woman will likely repay her employer with a ***** lawsuit, as women are far more likely to sue employers.
The big lie that feminists want no one to know is that women are paid more (a lot more) for doing the same amount of work as a man. I'm all about gender equality. If women received equal pay for equal work, I'd get a big raise and they'd take a pay cut.
Oh, for the record, in my job (statisticians) women make 150% of what men make. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yep, and she gets that... just not in money.
I'd love to not have to work, to stay home and have someone else provide for me.
That alone is priceless. I get paid quite a bit in my job and I don't even get a fraction of that luxury. - kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3No it wasn't. You're not the one who turned a human relationship into a commodity.
- frostieDude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I love how they compare the Mom's job to a highly trained professional in all these areas. My wife is no psychologist. Nor is she CEO material. And as far as being a professional driver - she has totalled like 5 vehicles in the last 10 years, so if I was hiring a driver I would find someone more qualified. She is also not a qualified teacher which is why I check the kids homework when I get home.
I'm not saying she does nothing, but to suggest that what she does is professional level work or worth even close to $138,000/year is ridiculous. If it was truly worth that she would be working. - kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I tried to pull this crap back when I was married and jobless. And my (ex) wife said a very insightful thing to me once that has stuck with me since. She pointed out that I, in fact, living alone would be doing almost everything I was doing staying at home. Like laundry, cooking, dishes, house cleaning, etc. Except I'd be working for the privilege instead of her working for it.
Caring for a child or an infant is a very different thing. But that's a choice. All that other stuff is duties one cannot avoid without hiring someone to do it for you. It has worth, but you're kidding yourself if you think it's worth that. Half is a stretch. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6She's lucky I let her sleep on the foot of my bed when I am done with her!
Oh ***** here she comes! Got to go.... - Scrollfx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Sure the mother can make that much money, but who is paying for it? She does! So in the end, she is paying herself the money, which mean she would end up with 0$ overall. She can give herself a raise every year all she wants. I mean, it's her house she is taking care of, it's her children shes taking of, etc. She is the employer and employee.
- theblackgecko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Your husband is a lucky man. In the couples that I know, the household division of labor is basically equal. Both parties do the bare minimum.
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