The Economics Of Being A Mother

May 11, 2014 in Daily Bulletin

For this Mother’s day Kevin Voigt took a look at the tradeoffs that mothers make:

  • It takes about $241,000 to raise a child. And that doesn’t even include the cost of college.
  • But that is just the tip of the iceberg. According to one estimate a mother produces $119,000 worth of unpaid output a year.
  • If this were included in GDP calculations it could boost many country’s GDPs by up to 50%.
  • The longer women wait to have children the more their lifetime wages increase – even if they return to work after.
  • And for highly skilled women being a mother can mean a loss of $230,000 in lifetime earnings.
  • Father’s, on the other hand, see no financial penalty from parenthood.

Read more about the financial decisions that mothers have to make, details about the studies referenced, and more over here.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor