With Christmas just a few days away our thoughts turn to—wealth redistribution, minimum wage, overtime and a fair day’s pay. Doesn’t everyone’s?

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A new study reported in the UK Daily Mail finds that if Santa Claus were paid a U.S. salary for his work he'd take home $139,924. That means one of two things—Christmas is a steal or Santa is getting ripped off!

That amount is less than the Yakima City Manager and it falls short of the $1.8 billion that a third of people surveyed said they think he should earn, though it is up 1.5% from what he would've earned last year ($137,795.)

Researchers figure Santa would earn $116,742 for his role of running the toy workshop, and about $4,500 a year for caring for his reindeer (which is technically farm work.) He would also earn $537 for checking his list twice if he earned a standard bookkeeping salary. Other roles that were calculated into Santa's earnings: labor negotiator (with the elves), sleigh pilot, cookie taster, which falls under the category agricultural inspector, and of course private investigator (how else would he know who was good or bad all year?)  

All in all a clever exercise but it seems so undervalued I might venture a guess who’s getting the big goose-egg for Christmas this year!

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