He runs one of the largest delivery systems in the world, manages a naughty and nice database of billions, and oversees a gigantic toy factory – so it’s safe to say, Santa deserves a decent salary.
According to the Santa Index compiled by Insure.com, using data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics in the U.S., Santa is looking at a $172,256 salary for the calendar year – up over $2,500 from last year.
Using the list of tasks that Santa is famous for and their equivalent wages in the U.S., the company found that Santa’s role as an industrial engineer running the North Pole toy shop netted him $143,717 of his yearly earnings at eight hours a day for 364 days a year.
His labour negotiation skills with his elves earned over $6,000 a year while his ten-hour delivery shift on Christmas Eve only earned $183.
That naughty and nice list doesn’t check itself so Santa can expect $955 for his investigation skills and $600 for his twice-checked auditing.
According to Insure.com, Rudolph and company take up an hour a day of the Santa schedule and Mr. Claus nets $5,347 for his animal skills.
Insurance Business approached Santa for his opinion but due to the heavy workload this side of Christmas he was unavailable to comment.
Just over $170,000 seems like short-shrift for the man that brings joy (and presents) to millions worldwide and the insurer found in a survey of 1,000 adults only 16 per cent thought Santa would be fairly compensated for his work.
Twenty-nine per cent of respondents thought Santa should earn over $1 billion for his work (One dollar for every child, worldwide under the age of 15) while another 29 per cent thought he should do the work for free.
