Monday, 12 July 2010
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Clergy are the Most Satisfied with their Jobs
People, our relationships to them, and our love for them really seems to define the meaning of being human. When there is a massive tragedy such as a school shooting, earthquake or flood, the horror of the loss of life was that they were friends and family and community members. Not to devalue anyone's technical skills, such as the world being short a great noble-prize winning physicist, but the real tragedy is the loss of their humanity, their love, not their vocations.
Speaking of vocations, this article in LiveScience news concurs: Survey Reveals Most Satisfying Jobs
*percentage who said they were very satisfied with their jobs
- Clergy—87 percent percent
- Firefighters—80 percent percent
- Physical therapists—78 percent percent
- Authors—74 percent
- Special education teachers—70 percent
- Teachers—69 percent
- Education administrators—68 percent
- Painters and sculptors—67 percent
- Psychologists—67 percent
- Security and financial services salespersons—65 percent
Now this is interesting, clergymen are the most satisfied out of all careers, even above creative professionals like artists and writers. And all the other front runners are people and/or service oriented jobs. No offense to engineers, but they don't make the list. Neither do lawyers, haha.
And unsurprisingly, it doesn't correspond to how much money you make!
The conclusion seems to be that working with others and engaging in your humanity and with that of others is the most fulfilling thing you can do with your life. It's not shocking, but it really seems to be that loving your neighbor was one heck of a prescription for living a joyful life down here.
I don't mean though that technical jobs aren't necessary and valuable and worthy, just that if you have a technical career, you would probably find it more enjoyable if you related it to work with others.
How satisfied are you with your job, even if that's being a student? Why do you think clergy rank as the most satisfied with their jobs? Do you see your clergy members as satisfied?
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- From: StephanieP
- Name: StephanieP
- About Me: Stephanie is a fledgling Catholic theorist with a magnifying glass at the intersection of faith and culture, and theology and technology. She holds a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and is pursuing an MA in Theology at the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. Though a penniless writer, Stephanie is eternally grateful for her starving artist husband.
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Comments (9)
I just know that someone is going to respond to this with "Of course they're satisfied with their jobs, they only work one day a week!" Or, perhaps "Sure, they get loads of money and all they have to do is lie to people." I'm sorry--does this expectation make me bitter and cynical?
It's actually fairly surprising, if you think about it, that clergy have this high of a job satisfaction rate. By most Americans' standards, your average pastor or priest (who isn't a megachurch head or televangelist) does not make very much at all. Many are bivocational because their congregations can't afford to pay them a full-time wage. They are at peoples' service at all hours, often called away from home and family because a parishioner has had a crisis. So many of them serve so unconditionally and so sacrificially that they rarely get true vacations--my pastor has cut his short to come back because he heard a family in the church was going through some rough spots. And yet clergy have this astronomical satisfaction rate.
Makes you wonder if their satisfaction isn't coming from paychecks or job perks, eh?
@ChrisRusso@xanga - " They are at peoples' service at all hours,
often called away from home and family because a parishioner has had a
crisis. "
So true. It really is selfless. Sometimes I worry for priests; I wonder if they are getting enough alone time or time for their own needs. Yet, most never complain and usually seem very happy and upbeat. It must be especially bad for Protestant pastors who usually have families and have to be called away from that. Yet many manage to strike quite the balance.
It's definitely not a one-day-a-week job.
My dad is a pastor. It's an eight day a week job.
He loves it, though! He's definitely in that satisfied percentage!
Of course they are satisfied with their jobs. What other kind of job could you have where you do nothing productive, and have people give you money and respect 7 days a week. Geez.
@Da__Vinci@xanga - Hmm. That may be the case in some instances, but in all? Of course, I can't tell via type if you are being sarcastic or not...
@Da__Vinci@xanga - They could be popular bloggers on Xanga and have those benefits.
@Nous_Apeiron@xanga - Lol good point.
@Da__Vinci@xanga - Heh, see, now I can't tell if you didn't see my comment and are serious, or if you saw my comment and did it on purpose.
That's what I get for stating my guesses in the first comment... 
This is very interesting. As many of us know, and these results highlight, money does not bring you happiness. Although many people in my career (marketing jobs) are satisfied with their career, many of them are unhappy with their actual employer and the people they work with. I'm very surprised to see that health care professionals such as doctors and nurses are not on the list!