Congrats SAHM - you get a raise!

Salary.com recently decided stay-at-home-moms deserve a raise to $134,121 annually (up from 2005's salary of $131,471). They even have a nifty calculator to help you figure out your worth as you sit down for your salary negotiation.....oh...we don't get to do that....we get paid out in slobbery kisses and heads heavy from sleep resting on our shoulders. Ahhhh - those are hard to price out.

The Wall Street Journal is one of many media sources to discuss the latest raise for the stay-at-home-mom:

Claudia Goldin, a professor of economics at Harvard, dismissed the survey as "silly." "The calculation isn't for what anyone would pay an individual," Prof. Goldin said. "Nor is it for exactly what the individual does. It is for what the person claims they are doing during a long day -- CEO, psychologist, etc. And what exactly is the salary for the CEO of a business that shows no profits and sells no services or goods? I think it is probably zero."

But, what's really the point of a SAHM salary survey? Is it that people need to have a $$$ tied to what they do to feel social worth? Do some have to justify staying at home to their working partners? Is it so hard for women to leave behind the work force, titles/positions of power, control over their own paychecks that something like this rekindles those feelings?

Taking a different angle, according to an MSN Money article, the 'hidden cost' of SAHM can be rather high:

Cost of giving up a career: $1 million
She uses herself, a writer (ahem), as an example of what happens when women decide to leave the workforce. Most not only forfeit their income, but also retirement savings, pension and other benefits. All told, Crittenden says, she gave up about $700,000. Shocking? Yes. Unlikely? Nope. Economists say that the stay-at-home parent who relinquishes a career may lose about $1 million over the years.