Numerous studies in the US have looked to put a price tag on the duties of a stay-at-home parent, with economists attaching a median annual salary to the numerous jobs performed in the role.<\/p>\n
According to the latest data from Insure.com<\/a> , stay-at-home parents should earn as much as $126,725 (around R2 million) in 2022, for the many tasks they perform daily. Salary.com<\/a> put the figure at $184,820 (R2.86 million).<\/p>\n Parents wear a lot of hats – more than 20 – according to Salary.com. <\/a>These jobs include chief financial officer, chief operating officer, van driver, teacher, nurse, and many more.<\/p>\n “However, if you were to approach calculating how much a stay-at-home (parent) is worth like an economist, the amount you\u2019d get would be nowhere close to those two figures,” said GoBankingRates. “Of course, you can\u2019t truly put a number on the invaluable love and nurturing a (parent) provides.”<\/p>\n According to economists, you can use Labour Department data to determine an approximate market value.<\/p>\n Dr Brian Strow, dean of the Rinker School of Business at Palm Beach Atlantic University said that the first step to calculating how much a ‘stay-at-home parent’ should make depends on how they spend their day.<\/p>\n According to the US Labour Department’s American Time Use Survey (ATUS), married parents who are not employed and are in a household with a minor child could spend on average 6.17 hours daily on child care and household-related tasks.<\/p>\n House-related tasks include the following:<\/p>\n “The next step is to figure out how much the activities a stay-at-home (parent) does are worth, by multiplying the number of hours spent on each activity by the hourly wage someone in that type of industry earns,” said Strow.<\/p>\n Strow added that to effectively determine the pay of a stay-at-home parent, the real value of their labour is what is done on top of the average part-time of a full-time working parent.<\/p>\n “In other words, all (parents) have to do some level of childcare and housework regardless of whether they also work outside of the home.”<\/p>\n Total value of a stay-at-home parent<\/strong><\/p>\n “On average, they spend almost twice as many hours caring for children and doing household work as working parents. From an accounting standpoint, the total stay-at-home (parent) would earn annually based on the wages of workers in jobs similar to the daily tasks they perform would be $37,233.65 (R580,000<\/strong>),” said GoBankingRates.<\/p>\n However, in the eyes of an economist, it\u2019s that extra value provided by stay-at-home parents \u2014 the 2.98 more hours they spend a day on childcare and household work than working parents \u2014 that determines their market value.<\/p>\n When you isolate that additional time, economists would value a stay-at-home parent\u2019s work at $17,983.55 (R280,000<\/strong>) a year.<\/p>\n Daycare in South Africa According to Payscale<\/a>, the average hourly rate of a childcare or daycare employee in South Africa is R18.45, with workers with upwards of five years of experience earning R24.49 per hour.<\/p>\n A parent could earn around R50 (R47.23) for the 2.56 hours daily as a childcare worker.<\/p>\n According to the ATUS, a parent on average would spend 1.35 hours caring for their children even if they had a job, said GoBankingRates.<\/p>\n Being a stay-at-home parent, therefore, equates to an extra 1.21 hours – meaning R22.32 per day.<\/p>\n Over a month, a stay-at-home parent conducting the service of a childcare worker would receive roughly R679.19 a month (approximately 30.43 days in a month) and R8,150 annually<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Housework<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this year, the minister of employment and labour published the new minimum wage for domestic workers<\/a> in South Africa. The new wage came into effect on 1 March 2022 and is now R23.19 per hour.<\/p>\n According to GoBanking Rates, working parents spend roughly half as much time – 0.74 hours – on housework as stay-at-home parents. The real value that stay-at-home parents provide is an extra 0.82 hours of housework daily.<\/p>\n In South Africa, doing the work of the average domestic worker would earn R36.17 a day, R1,100 a month and R13,210<\/strong>\u00a0annually<\/strong>, granted that housework is performed every day.<\/p>\n Food preparation and cleanup<\/strong><\/p>\n Married parents with full-time jobs spend 0.8 hours a day, on average, preparing meals and cleaning up afterwards. Because an economist would consider this the de facto amount of time parents spend cooking, the benefit stay-at-home parents provide is an extra 0.8 hours making food for their families, said Strow.<\/p>\n Based on 158 salary profiles, Payscale details that the average kitchen chef in South Africa earns R23.12 an hour.<\/p>\n For food preparation and cleanup, the average South African stay-at-home parent could earn roughly R18.49 a day, R562.83 a month and R6,753 a year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Travel related to household care<\/strong><\/p>\n In South Africa there are roughly 199 schools days for public schools<\/a>. Private or international school calendars vary.<\/p>\n The average stay-at-home parent could do an average 199 trips a year – lasting around 32 minutes each trip. GoBankingRates said that the real value provided by a stay-at-home parent is only 0.08 hours of transportation.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n