There is obviously a selection bias here. Professors are often exactly the kind of person who loves to work night and day on a topic of their interest.

There is obviously a selection bias here. Professors are often exactly the kind of person who loves to work night and day on a topic of their interest. People also tend to judge the job for profs with tenure. The vast majority of professionals in academia are either pursuing PhDs, post Docs or untenured professors. Doctors have great job satisfaction once they are established too. But similar to profs the road to get there is among the most grueling. The whole idea of tenure, is that the university expects the professor to be self motivated enough to warrant zero supervision or threat of losing their job. A professors job is great for someone who is suited for a professors job. The traditional person who values other things may not find it to be as nice.