Santa Claus would earn $139,924 if paid for his services

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A new survey of labor statistics shows Santa Claus would earn almost $140,000 if compensated based on national wage averages for the services he purportedly renders each Christmas.

According to Insure.com, for the entire Christmas process -- from managing a multifaceted engineering workshop, to twice checking the naughty or nice list and everything in between -- Santa should earn $139,924 annually.

"Most of Santa's pay comes from his duties as industrial engineer managing the North Pole toy factory," explains Barbara Marquand of Insure.com.

"At eight hours a day 364 days a year, that comes to $116,742. Other tasks, like cookie tasting and auditing -- including checking the list twice -- demand fewer hours."

The Today Show simplified the full breakdown of Santa's would-be wages as follows:

Running the workshop 2912 hours per year $116,742 Professional shopper 120 hours per year $1,980 Wrapper of gifts 168 hours per year $1,831 Labor negotiator (with the elves) 182.5 hours per year $4,964 Letter reader 100 hours per year $1,722 Talking to kids in the mall 168 hours per year $2,695 Investigator (knows if you've been good or bad) 30 hours per year $777 List checker (checking it twice) 30 hours per year $537 Taking care of reindeer 365 hours per year $4,347 Snow plow driver 180 hours per year $3,200 Sleigh pilot 10 hours per year $623 Chimney sweep 10 hours per year $146 Cookie taster 10 hours per year $210 Gift distributor 10 hours per year $149 Announcer ("Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!") .01 hours per year $0

Despite the firmly upper-middle class earning potential, Ric "Singing Santa" Erwin, Vice President of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, says the real big guy wouldn't have any use for money.

"Not only was [St. Nicholas] quite unconcerned with earning a salary, he was actively engaged in giving his wealth away." Erwin explained.

"What would he spend it on -- and where?"

The average mall Santa earns between $6,000 and $8,000 each holiday season.