The Last Word (Maybe) on Salary.com

I'm not the only one taking Salary.com to task for sillyness every year. The Wall Street Journal's numbers guy takes another swipe at the absurdity of it all, including this valuable and interesting commentary:

I asked Harvard economist Claudia Goldin, who criticized the Salary.com estimate in my column last year, if she had any further comment. She replied, “What about my dog’s annual salary? She guards the house and warms the bed (Al Gore would approve — no electricity used). She cleans the floor — really well — if something spills. She’s my personal trainer and lowers my husband’s blood pressure. She heals as well as heels. Tally up that sum.”

Credit where credit is due: at-home (and working) parent deserve a lot more respect/status than they generally get, but trying to stick a price tag on the whole thing kind of misses the point.