Getting paid a nice fat salary for the job of giving out gifts on one night per year sounds like a pretty cushy job: You’ve got to admit, getting a $140,000 salary to be Santa Claus, which is the figure named in a recent survey as what Santa would be paid if he were to pocket a paycheck, is a pretty darn enviable position.

This year Santa’s getting a raise for Christmas, as the annual Santa Index by Insure.com (via USAToday.com) says he’d get $139,924 in a 1.5% bump over the 2013 rate of $137,795.

Survey participants were pretty extremely divided on what Santa should make — 29% of the 895 adults surveyed who said Old Man Christmas visits their homes thought St. Nick should be working pro bono, while another 29% thought his role in making wishes and dreams come true deserved a whopping $1.8 billion salary.

He wouldn’t be paid simply for gift delivery, but instead, his salary takes into account a list of tasks and hours he’d hypothetically be working in doing things like leading the workshop and flying his sleigh, which were then matched with jobs in the Bureau of Labor Statistics to uncover average wages.

Other things like wrapping gifts and grooming his loyal reindeer would make him lower wages than his pilot duties.

“The economic ‘value’ of Santa appears to be a hot-button issue,” said Amy Danise, editorial director of Insure.com, in a statement.

Meanwhile, parents are still paid zero dollars for being parents, in a 0% increase over last year and all the years before that.

Santa should make nearly $140,000 this year, survey says [USAToday.com]

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