Thursday, November 19, 2009

(h)ec(k)onomics...

For those of us mom folks who feel a little down on their worth from time to time.

taken from Today's Parent Canada - May 2009

Average time per week employed moms and at-home moms with two tots spend on unpaid work, along with estimated fair market value if this work were to be contracted out to the kind of folks who get paid:

                      employed moms/at home moms/fair hourly wage

housekeeping        7.8                          17.2                         $10.38

daycare teacher      6.3                         16.4                         $14.19

cook                    6.4                          11.5                          $14.40

launderer             5.1                          8.0                             $10.65
(*clothes, not money cause wouldn't that solve all of our problems)

janitor                 3.7                           6.4                             $10.92
(*interesting to note the pay differential between janitors and housekeepers, no?)

facilities manager 4.4                           6.8                             $37.23
(*I don't know what this job is, but apparently I have experience and should try to get a paid job doing this!)

CEO                   5.9                         6.4                               $73.06

van driver           4.6                          6.6                               $17.12

psychologist      4.9                          6.9                                $39.24
(*I would like to note that MY psychologist makes a fuck of a lot more per hour than that!)

The article notes that the estimated annual market worth of mom's unpaid labour is:

employed moms - $68 405
at-home moms - $116 805

(note here that all of these figures are U.S.)

I guess it's heartening to know that I make a pretty damn good imaginary salary. 

But it would feel so so so so much better if women's unpaid labour was actually valued