Dollars-and-Cents Study Gives New Meaning to ‘Dear Mother’

On paper, mothers are worth a lot.

As a cook, financial manager, psychologist and bus driver, an American mother should pull in $508,700 per year based on average U.S. salaries, according to a study by Edelman Financial Services in Fairfax, Virginia.

“Since a mother wears many hats and is on duty 24 hours a day, we decided a typical mother deserves a full-time yearly salary for 17 key occupational positions,” said financial analyst Ric Edelman.

“The conclusion we reached is that no matter how much you are indebted to your mom, it’s not enough,” Edelman added.

The National Organization for Women said it was good to give such recognition to mothers’ work. But NOW Vice President Elizabeth Toledo said in an interview that low salaries for child-care workers show that society still fails to realize a nurturer’s true worth.

Judsen Culbreth, editor of Working Mother magazine, called the half-million-dollar figure “a little low,” saying many mothers actually take on more jobs than in Edelman’s study.

“I think mothers are still underappreciated,” Culbreth said. “I think one reason is women really like being nurturers and so they take on these roles and keep these roles, even sometimes when they can give them up.”