Jobs stay-at-home parents do would earn €48k

MORE than 80% people underestimate the value of stay-at-home parents, a new survey has found.

Research revealed that a stay-athome parent is deemed by the public to be worth around €28,000 a year to a household.

However, figures suggest that the true value is around €48,000.

There are around 454,700 people in Ireland whose principal status is looking after the home or family, according to the 2016 census.

Some 98% were women while the number of men fulfilling this role nearly doubled in the ten years up to 2016, rising from 4,900 to 9,200.

The nationwide survey, carried out by iReach in January on behalf of protection specialist Royal London, asked 1,000 people how much they believe it would cost to employ someone to perform the duties of a stay-at-home parent. The average answer was €28,000. However, research into the average value of the jobs stay-at-home parents do for the family, such as cooking, cleaning and driving children to their various activities, revealed that the cost to employ someone to do the jobs normally done by a stay-at-home parent would be around €47,933. The research also revealed that on average, women estimated the value of a stay-at-home parent to be €4,000 higher than their male counterparts, who placed the value at €25,000 compared to €29,000.

Marketing lead at Royal London, Sara Murphy, said: ‘The question was put to respondents before the country went into lockdown, and before thousands of parents became stay-at-home mams and dads as a result.’

Meanwhile, those in Connacht estimated the highest value at €30,000, followed by Dublin (€29,000), the rest of Leinster (€29,000), and Ulster (€27,000).