Guest Author - Cate Brizzell

Every year Salary.com calculates the "worth" of typical American (and Canadian) moms, both stay-at-home and work-outside-the-home.

2008's figures are down from 2007, after taking into account the "size" of mom's business, but the figures are still staggering.

If you take the ten most popular "mom" functions and add up the compensation, it amounts to $116,805 for a stay-at-home mom and $85,938 for a working mom (in addition to whatever she earns as her regular salary).

What exactly are those top ten functions?

housekeeper (no shock there)
day care center teacher
cook
laundry machine operator (yes, this is a real job)
computer operator
psychologist
facilities manager
van driver
chief executive officer
janitor

I think "chief financial officer" and "zookeeper" should also be considered, but perhaps that's simply the way things are at my own very unique household.

So how many hours does mom work to earn this fantastic level of pay? Let's start with overtime. A typical stay-at-home mom works 54.4 hours of overtime a week, for a total workweek of 94.4 hours. Working moms put in a 54.6-hour "mom" workweek, on top of their salaried jobs.

You can use Salary.com's special "Mom Salary Wizard" to figure out how much your mom (or your hard work) is worth. You can even print out a special "paycheck" to use in next year's Mother's Day card, or surprise that special mom in your life with some special recognition.

You can also use the wizard to adjust the salary figures based on your locality.

Other than using this exercise to boost mom's sense of self-worth and contribution to the family, I think it's important to realize that the fictional "mom salary" is an important factor to consider when husbands and wives evaluate potential life insurance policies. If the unthinkable should occur and dad is left alone to raise a family, how much will he have to pay outside sources to replace the necessary functions mom performs on a regular basis? It's not just outside income that needs to be replaced.

Whatever your final figures end up being, I think we can all agree that the tangible and intangible benefits of motherhood are priceless!

Next week we'll take a look at Salary.com's "Dad Salary Wizard" to calculate how "valuable" dad is to his home-based enterprise.