<p>As the spouse of a humanities professor, yes – faculty work 60 hour weeks, they are just not physically in the office all that time. Teaching, research, writing, supervising grad students, commenting on papers, meeting with students – it may not look like hard work, but like other professionals, it is not work that ends at 5 or 6pm and it usually includes substantial work on the weekends. Most faculty have gone into academics because they are passionate about their field and they are, by nature, people who would not thrive in a hierarchical employment setting. </p>
<p>Few profs, except law and business faculty and science profs with well-funded research from outside sources, make salaries well into six figures. 20 years into his career as a humanities prof, my tenured spouse makes well under $100,000. with only the prospect of 1-2% merit raises (and he is highly regarded and very successful in his field). Some chaired humanities faculty – generally faculty in their 60s – make $150k+, but that is not the norm.</p>