HispanicBusiness

Moms might not like this Mother's Day message: You're not valued as much as a year ago.

According to the 2013 Mother's Day Index, Mom's value in the household slipped to $59,862. That's down from $60,182 in 2012 and $61,436 in 2011.

The cold, hard cash facts are courtesy of Insure.com, the consumer-oriented insurance information site that devised the index. It uses a list of common household tasks, such as cooking, yard work, cleaning, and handling family finances, and calculates the value with wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Average wages for typical Mom jobs have been dropping, pushing down Mom's annual value," said Amy Danise, editorial director of Insure.com.

Most mothers who were surveyed by Insure.com place their own value under $40,000 a year. Insure.com interviewed 500 women with children age 12 or younger living at home. A similar question posed to 500 men by Insure.com also placed mothers' value at less than $40,000.

Mothers listed cleaning up, yard work and family finances as their least favorite tasks. The tasks they liked best? Taking care of the children, cooking, and shopping for the family.

If they could hire someone to do their household jobs, mothers said, they'd spend the extra time with family, traveling or exercising.

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(c)2013 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

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