Nearly 36 percent of men work in these occupations, compared to only 5.5 percent of women. The preference of many major religions for male clergy is largely responsible for this gender difference in employment patterns of philosophy graduates. Activities on the Job Nearly 60 percent of employed philosophy graduates regularly engage in managerial and administrative duties at work. About 17 percent spend most of their time at work performing these duties. These activities follow from their concentration in the clergy and in religious, administrative, and managerial occupations.
Administrative duties are quite common among clergy members.
About 4 of 10 philosophy graduates regularly engage in teaching duties, and 12 percent spend most of their time in performing these duties. Philosophy graduates also provide professional services, mainly in the form of counseling and guidance services for marital, health, financial, and religious problems. About 12 percent of employed philosophy graduates spend most of their time in these duties at work. The private, for-profit sector pays a higher average salary to philosophy majors than other sectors of the economy. The highest salary of philosophy majors within the top 10 occupations is in upper level executive, administrative, and managerial occupations.