‘Counting On’: Derick Dillard Reveals Why the Duggars Don’t Have Traditional Jobs

As more and more Duggar kids age into adulthood and get married, fans have a lot of questions. Several of the Duggar boys are officially married and attempting to support young families, but not a single one of those young men have a traditional 9-5 job. In fact, none of the four Duggar boys who have married are employed in the conventional sense. Instead, they work for their father, Jim Bob Duggar. While family followers have long assumed that the decision to work for the family was due to religious beliefs, Derick Dillard is telling a different story. The infamous Duggar son-in-law claims Jim Bob has thwarted career aspirations more than once.

Derick claims Jim Bob prevented him from getting his dream job

Duggar family followers once considered Derick lazy for failing to hold traditional employment. The judgment took hold years ago, but Derick is finally speaking out. The father of two and law school student insists he isn’t lazy and claims that he not only wants to work, but was prevented from doing so by Jim Bob.

In an interview with Katie Joy of Without a Crystal Ball, Derick claimed that he once interviewed for a position that he was incredibly interested in. He reported that he had flown out for interviews, and was all set to take the job when Jim Bob stepped in and told him he wasn’t allowed to seek employment. Derick did not mention why he was told he couldn’t work for an outside company, but family followers believe some sort of contract signed by Derick may have played a part. Derick refused to mention what type of position he interviewed for but made it clear that Jim Bob was the reason he couldn’t take it.

Derick also reports that other family members have been blocked from working outside the family business

Derick suggested that he wasn’t the only Duggar family member who was advised to give up their dreams. He indicated that other family members were told they couldn’t seek employment outside the family business, although he stopped short of sharing who was advised to stick close to home. Fans believe that almost every Duggar family member has been advised to avoid outside employment. It would seem, at this point, that the only man in the family with a job not directly linked to Jim Bob, is Austin Forsyth. Austin, who married Joy-Anna Duggar, is a contractor.

Of the Duggar sons, the only one who has held a job outside the family is Josh Duggar. The disgraced Duggar boy worked for Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying organization. He resigned from the job in 2015 after back-to-back scandals. After resigning, he headed home to Arkansas. He hasn’t held a traditional position since.

Why would Jim Bob prevent his kids from getting jobs?

The Duggar family believes that women should not work outside the home. Instead, they think that a woman’s place is inside the home, where she should be “joyfully available” after a long day of tending to her ever-expanding family. Someone, however, needs to work, and the family thinks that that is the man’s job. If Jim Bob and his family believe it’s a man’s job to bring in a paycheck, why would he be preventing the boys from getting jobs? Family followers, many of whom have been critical of Jim Bob for more than a decade, believe it’s a power play.

Jim Bob seems interested in keeping his family as close as possible, and one way to do that is to ensure they can’t survive without the financing of their father. Joseph, Josiah, Joshua, and John-David Duggar are all financially dependent on Jim Bob for their paychecks. Joseph, Josiah, and Joshua were all employed at family-owned car lots. John-David serves as the family’s personal pilot, although he has an additional volunteer position as a constable. The position is unpaid.

Ben Seewald, who married Jessa Duggar in 2014, is also employed by the Duggar family as a tutor. Prior to marrying Jessa, though, Ben did hold a job. Followers argue that Jim Bob requires his sons and sons-in-law to give up employment options, so they are available for filming, although, as Derick has claimed, none of them get paid for their time on camera.