Nearly three quarters of Irish people are devaluing stay-at-home parents by nearly half of their actual worth.
A new survey has shown that when asked about how much it would cost to replace a stay-at-home parent and all the work they do, Irish people were undervaluing by up to €20,000 a year.
Of the 1,000 people who were surveyed, almost 75% of them guessed their annual worth at somewhere between €20,000 and €30,000.
However, one insurance group found that it would be closer to €42,000 when you think of all the jobs that stay-at-home parents occupy.
Royal London looked into their real value and were shocked to see how skewed the publics idea of worth was.
“Our calculations revealed that the cost to employ someone to do the household jobs normally done by a stay-at-home parent would be at least €42,000 or more,” Joe Charles from the insurance group said.
“This is over a third more than what the majority of the Irish public think it costs.
“Encouragingly, however, 29% of respondents said they thought it would be €40,000 or higher.”
The survey also revealed that men were less likely to put a high value on house-parents.
The age of respondents also played a role in their estimation of value.
13% of 18 to 34-year-olds guessed a value of €10,000 in comparison to 7% of over-55s.
While only 22% of 18 to 34-year-olds estimated a value of €40,000 or more, 37% of over-55s did the same.
