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Thursday, January 5th, 2017

55% of American workers don’t take all their paid vacation

Author:     Quentin Fottrell
Source:     Market Watch
Publication Date:     June 19, 2016 7:47 a.m. ET
 Link: 55% of American workers don’t take all their paid vacation
Stephan:   This is a particularly sad trend. In the first place American workers get far less time off that their counterparts in European nations. In the second place, as this report describes, even the modest amount they do get, the majority don't use. Why? Fear of being replaced; the small percentage protected by union membership; pressure from management all are factors workers report. No wonder Americans as a country are so unhappy.

caitdebaungmailcom vacation ferris bueller time off

Millions of Americans are giving their vacation days back to their employer.

More than half (55%) of Americans didn’t take all their vacation days in 2015, up from 42% in 2013, according to a new study released Tuesday by the U.S. Travel Association’s Project Time Off. This is the first time it found a majority of workers are not using all their vacation time. (emphasis added) The average worker took 16.2 days of vacation last year, down from 20 days in 1993, resulting in $61.4 billion in forfeited benefits. These workers gave up 658 million unused vacation days and 222 million of those days cannot be rolled over or exchanged for money. (Over 5,600 full-time workers were surveyed, including 1,184 managers.)

This is similar to previous studies on the subject. Employees only use 51% of their eligible paid vacation time, according to a 2014 survey of 2,300 workers who receive paid vacation. What’s more, 61% of Americans work while they’re on vacation, despite complaints from family members; one-in-four report being contacted by […]

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1 Comment

  1. Mark R on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at 6:05 am

    Wage slavery is still a pernicious form of slavery. We have been conditioned to self-police ourselves so that corporations don’t have to appear to be slave owners because behavior is “voluntary” and fear driven. Good article.