'This is Absurd:' America, The No-Vacation Nation

(An Alaska vacation (mattbaron/Flickr)

Americans get much less paid leave than other countries.

The European Union, for instance, under a so-called “Working Time Directive,” mandates employers give workers at least four weeks or 20 days paid-leave every year.

Some European countries top that; France mandates 30 days of paid annual leave, while Finland and Sweden come in at 25. Austria, Portugual, and Italy have laws requiring 13 paid public holidays (in addition to the paid leave); Spain has 12 paid public holidays.

In fact, every single country listed on the the following graph gets at least minimum annual leave and some get paid public holidays as well. Except for the US.

Meanwhile, workers in the Unites States get an average of 12 days off and 8 paid public holidays, but this is far from across the board. It’s just the average. Also, unlike the other countries, there are no laws in place mandating either one. 

Canada and Japan are below the rest of the world, providing only ten days of paid leave a year, while “the United States is in a class of its own with respect to statutory gauarantees of paid time off,” say researchers from Harvard University.

“It is the no-vacation nation,” they add. 

Two vacationers in front of the American Falls at Niagara Falls. (Beth and Christian/Flickr)

(Harvard)

People are divided on what this all means. One writer on Marketplace suggested every American get a mandatory minimum of three weeks paid leave every year.

“Most Americans only get two weeks off right now. But many don’t even take the full two weeks out of fear of losing their jobs,” says the writer, Robert Reich, chancellor’s professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. “One in four gets no paid vacation at all, not even holidays. Overall, Americans have less vacation time than workers in any other advanced economy.”

“This is absurd,” he adds, pointing out that studies show workers who take time off are more productive at work, the old “recharge the batteries.”

“We are all slaves to Madison Avenue and to our Government,” says on commentor on a BigThink article publicizing the Harvard research.

“OR to put it another way…we EARN our way,” responded another. “I get 4 week vacation. Because I am valuable enough to my employer that they want to keep me and therefore want to keep me happy. I don’t need the government sticking their noses somewhere where the Constitution FORBIDS it to.”

“Your only saying this because you’re lucky enough to get 4 weeks off,” responds a commentor to that commentor. “This is rarely the case.”

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