No Vacations for Americans: Are Vacations Endangered in the United States?
It’s not surprising to find out that there are not too many people out there who actually “enjoy” their jobs. For many, it’s simply a way to earn an income to help sustain their current lifestyle. However, with the gasoline prices going up and the economy in a slump, many are grateful to even have a job. That being said, increasing numbers of people are choosing to stay home, opting for “staycations” versus vacations. But with more people working longer hours, vacations are becoming more obscure, lending criticism to the fact that vacations may very well be disappearing altogether.
According to the International Herald Tribune,
A global study by Expedia.com found that about a third of employed Americans usually do not take all the vacation days they are entitled to, leaving an average of three days on the table.
What’s the matter, people? Don’t you want a break?! Leftover vacation days aren’t unusual in the United States, especially at a time like now where so many of us are worried, if not paranoid, about making sure that our job stays put. Who’s to say that if you took a vacation, that you wouldn’t come back to find out that you had been replaced by someone else who appears more willing and dedicated?
Take Back Your Time is a nonprofit organization that studies issues related to overwork, and according to the site, vacations are “vanishing”:
Vacations are vanishing. Only 14% of Americans will get a vacation of two weeks or longer this year. A third of women and a quarter of men get no annual leave anymore, as annual leave benefits are being eliminated like pensions. Many others are afraid to use their paid leave for fear they could be laid off or demoted if they do. No wonder the average American vacation is now down to a long weekend.
Unlike 127 other countries, the U.S. has no minimum paid-leave law. Australians have four weeks off by law, the Europeans four and five weeks. The Japanese two weeks. We have zero. The lack of annual leave standards means many Americans never get time off, says “No Vacation Nation,” a recent report by the Center of Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
The CEPR study, No-Vacation Nation, reviewed international vacation and holiday laws and discovered that the United States is the only “advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacations or holidays.” The study goes on to explain that this lack of paid vacation as well as paid holidays in the U.S is particularly “acute for lower-wage and part-time workers,” as well as employees of small businesses.
to be continued…
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July 07 2008 02:00 am | Work Related
