Most Irish people would expect the average salary of a stay-at-home parent to come in at around €28,000, if they were to be paid.
However, this is a gross undervaluation of the estimated €49,000 it would cost to replace the ‘duties’ these mothers and fathers perform on a daily basis.
The above was one of the primary findings of research conducted by leading protection specialist Royal London, in a survey which sought to understand the perceptions of adults across the country toward the value of the stay-at-home parent and how these perceptions may have changed over the course of the pandemic.
The survey of 1,000 people throughout the country, commissioned by Royal London and conducted by iReach, revealed how multiple lockdowns since the pandemic began have changed people’s opinions on the role of parents who stay at home, with 42 per cent saying that they believe the role is even more valuable than they had previously thought.
Royal London also compared the financial value perceived by the survey respondents (€28,000 average ) with their own calculations drawn from pay-scale data on the monetary value of the homemaker - calculations which suggest that in reality, the figure could be closer to €49,000.
“Multiple lockdowns and the widespread shift to working from home have meant that thousands of people throughout the country have experienced a new way of day-to-day living.
“For people with children in particular, the new Monday to Friday daily routine has been a whole new world, particularly during the periods when no outside childcare was permitted. These people may well have developed a deeper understanding of the range of jobs involved in being a stay-at-home mam or dad.
“So, it is perhaps unsurprising that more than four in 10 people appreciate the role of the stay-at-home parent to a greater degree. Virtually none of our survey participants think less of the role now, so it looks like nobody walked away from this year thinking stay-at-home parents have it easy,” Padraic Benson of Royal London in Mayo, speaking of the findings, said.
