This Mother's Day the economy is making the salute to moms a bit more serious.
Working mothers are finding their median weekly wages declining, their work demands increasing, and companies pulling back on family-friendly benefits.
''Should we still be celebrating when so many women cannot find adequate employment that provides a living wage, work/life balance or personal fulfillment?'' asked Ilyse Shapiro, founder of the job search website, MyPartTimePRO.com.
In 2007, women earned median weekly wages of 80.2 cents for every dollar earned by men, down from 81 cents in 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And, mothers are twice as likely as fathers to have to pass up buying something their child needs because they can't afford it, according to a new report issued by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
The report also shows mothers face a 50 percent higher risk of losing their jobs than fathers.
''Whether the issue is retirement savings, or feeding your children or paying for medicine, women are more worried about economic security than men,'' said Margot Brandenburg, an associate director at the Rockefeller Foundation, which funded the study. ``And single moms are the hardest hit.''
Other surveys reveal mothers are less confident their employers will accommodate their needs:
• About half of mothers responding to an online Monster.com Mother's Day poll do not agree that their organization is working-mother friendly.
• An Adecco USA Workplace Insight survey found that working moms are just as likely as nonparents to work late and respond to e-mails after hours.
However, nearly half of moms (49 percent) think their companies should do more to help them achieve better work/life balance.
• About 60 percent of working moms say part-time work would be ideal; however, only 24 percent hold part-time jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Companies that offer family-friendly benefits such as flex-time, telecommuting and job sharing are on the decline, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, Women and Work Study.
• If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she'd rake in nearly $117,000 a year, according to Salary.com. By the same calculations, a working mom who also juggles an outside job would get $68,405 for her motherly duties.
MIAMIHERALD.COM: Which is harder to manage, career or family? To learn how most mothers answered this question go to Cindy Krischer Goodman's blog at www.worklifebalancingactblogspot.com
