The Price of the Calling: Exploring Clergy Compensation Using Current Population Survey Data

Abstract

Previous research shows that clergy make less money than others with similar levels of education. We use Current Population Survey data to offer five contributions to knowledge about clergy compensation. First, we document and take into account the shift in clergy compensation from the provision of free housing to the payment of housing allowances. Second, although the clergy earnings disadvantage appears to have increased over the last 40 years relative to their educational peers, the picture changes when we exclude the highest income occupations. Clergy have lost ground to doctors, lawyers, and investment bankers, but they have gained ground relative to everyone else. Third, these gains are largely because of decline in the number of hours clergy report working. Fourth, we show that clergy working in churches earn less than clergy working elsewhere. Fifth, we document immediate wage penalties for those who become clergy and, among clergy, for those who begin to work in congregations. Overall, although clergy still earn less than comparable workers, their position has improved in recent decades relative to all but the highest earning occupations.

Are Bivocational Clergy Becoming the New Normal? An Analysis of the Current Population Survey, 1996–2017

“…; Lemieux ; Moller, Alderson, and Nielsen ; Mouw and Kalleberg ; Schwartz ). Recently, some researchers have taken advantage of the CPS's large sample size to uncover within‐occupational inequality in clergy compensation as well as clergy labor market processes (McMillan and Price ; Schleifer and Chaves ; Schleifer and Miller ). Building upon this research, we use the CPS to track trends in clergy participating in multiple careers.…”

“…Numerous scholars and religious leaders have remarked on the increasing precariousness of the clergy occupation. Studies consistently find, for example, that clergy experience a wage disadvantage compared to similarly educated Americans (Hudnut‐Beumler ; McMillan and Price ), and recent work shows that this disadvantage has increased over the past 40 years (Schleifer and Chaves ). Declines in membership and giving coupled with the growing financial instability of smaller congregations—due to factors including rising secularization and the proliferation of “megachurches”—has led some to predict that the American religious landscape will witness a growing number of congregations unable to employ full‐time clergy (Chaves , ; Wheeler ).…”

“…For instance, while clergy historically have worked comparatively long work hours, their average hours worked per week have been declining, from an astonishing 76 hours a week in 1934 to just 43 hours per week in 2013 (Carroll ; Schleifer and Chaves ). Additionally, while clergy have historically suffered a growing wage disadvantage compared to their similarly educated peers, Schleifer and Chaves () show that this increasing disadvantage is driven almost entirely by gains among high‐earning professionals like doctors, lawyers, and bankers. Once these high‐earners are accounted for, clergy incomes have actually increased relative to the general population.…”

“…Consequently, we expect that these clergy are more likely to face the sorts of economic disadvantages that would necessitate them taking on a second job and that these disadvantages may be increasing over time. Related to this, unmarried clergy would likely experience increasing pressure to take on a second job since these clergy are often paid less than married clergy (Schleifer and Chaves ; Schleifer and Miller ) and they would not have a spouse to provide another potential source of income (McMillan and Price ). Thus, we expect to see a positive trend in the percentage of unmarried clergy working additional jobs.…”

“…In terms of religious factors, though Catholic clergy tend to earn less money than their Protestant counterparts (Condon ; Schleifer and Chaves ), Catholic clergy have historically been less likely to be bivocational than Protestant clergy. In Catholicism, officially recognized priests are necessary in order to administer the sacraments and, thus, Catholic parishes are less likely to have “part‐time” or “lay” clergy as Protestants do (Carroll ).…”