How much should a mother earn? 

Mother with children using laptop in kitchen

A job ad has been posted online for a full time unpaid Domestic Engineer, required to provide 24-hour care to help shape the life of a young person for a minimum of 18 years of service.

Advertised through job search engine, Adzuna.co.uk, would you apply for this role?

Ahead of today’s Mother’s Day, Adzuna analysed all the skills and tasks mums and guardians face every day, what experience they have gained, what transferable skills they have acquired from caring for children, and how much they should actually earn for all the work they do. Based on this information, the job search engine posted a fake application onsite, highlighting just how much mums really do.

Here are just some of the jobs mums undertake every day and the salary they could earn from doing them professionally if they did these full time:

Job

Average UK salary

Number of live jobs on Adzuna

Financial Adviser

£40,990

3,605

Nurse

£36,062

769

Therapist

£33,718

7,703

Teacher

£29,782

58,952

Nanny

£27,429

960

Personal Shopper

£26,477

98

Chef

£26.140

23,758

Cleaner

£26,035

48,572

Swim Instructor

£25,685

343

Hairdresser 

£25,350

920

Taxi Driver

£24,174

284

Stylist

£22,561

917

PA

£22,429

7,897

Dog walker

£22,374

91

Dishwasher

£21,233

26

Beauty Therapist

£20,701

597

Ironer

£18,918

341

Laundry Assistant

£17,553

397

This means that the total annual salary for a mum’s work equates to £467,611 before tax. After-tax, their weekly takeaway pay would be £4,978 equating to a huge £258,870 a year!

Looking at the huge annual salary mums could be taking home, this definitely seems a job worth applying for. However, a job as a mum also includes:

  • Regular night shifts with no additional pay

  • Evening and weekend work expected as standard

  • 24-hour care

  • Live-in role

  • No pension/auto-enrolment scheme available

  • No healthcare scheme available

  • Zero hours paid holiday

  • Must be on call 24 hours a day

  • Limited training available

  • No career progression

  • No bonus scheme

  • Solo working

  • No medical insurance

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, comments: “While it is easy to take our mums or caregivers for granted, seeing how much they do for us on a daily basis and how much they would earn if parenting was a paid job role is astonishing, and really puts their hard work and sacrifice into perspective.

“This Mother’s Day, make sure your mum knows how much you appreciate everything they do for you. Whether you offer to take on some of the household chores, schedule more frequent calls, or cook her favourite meal, we’re sure she’ll appreciate having one less job to do.”