"Good" Jobs and "Bad" Jobs: Differences in the Clergy Employment Relationship

Abstract

Employment relationships between clergy and church congregations vary from church to church. Although large (budget and size) churches are usually the best churches in terms of clergy pay and benefits, clergy folklore and compensating differentials arguments from economists suggest that the large churches may not be the best employment situations when nonmaterial features of work are considered. In fact, it is argued that smaller churches must provide more nonmaterial benefits in order to initially attract clergy and then keep them from leaving. National sample data on 1875 local churches from two Protestant denominations are used to assess whether this compensation actually exists. Counter to this differential compensation argument, strong support is found for a clear distinction between good and bad job situations, with the larger/higher budget, good churches consistently having both material and nonmaterial employment benefits that are better than those found in the smaller churches. These results are interpreted in the context of how clergy labor markets operate.