Clergy Satisfaction... and pay

Ben Witherington talks about some interesting stats from the latest Time Magazine...

"In a recent Special Report issue, America by the Numbers, some very revealing things came to light. The portion of the report which most interested me was the chart on the happiest people by job. 67% of all ministers say they are very happy on and with their jobs. The next happiest are firefighters, followed by Reservation and ticket agents and then architects. But back to clergy. They are clear examples that money does not make you happy. Of the some 37,820 clergy in America, the median salary is $39,680."

Comments

[rich]

Bob, what do you think about the 39K number?

[Bob Hyatt]

I think it's a median...

There are a lot of underpaid pastors, many who are just starting out, many who earn money other ways...

Interestingly enough we did a survey of churches in our area recently and came back with really similar numbers...

What do you think?

[rich]

I dunno. I hear lots of pastors complain, and many should, but the median for pastors is about 13K higher than the median for the public at large.

I just wondered what you thought. The post was about happiness, but BW throwing that number in there is trying to say something about pay as well. You think so too by your post title.

It's a tough thing to talk about but I think we should. I think we need to take good care of our pastors.

[Matt]

The median for pastor should "technically" be higher than the public at large, since most (sorry Joel Osteen) have at least a Bachelor's degree, and often at least one graduate degree.

I'm sure if you looked at the median for those with at least a Masters Degree, pastors are FAR under the median.

[Bob Hyatt]

And the numbers we looked at found that to be about average for those with College, but no Seminary...