Just about everybody I know truly values vacation days that are available to them. Between work obligations and the responsibilities of day-to-day life, we need to be able to recharge ourselves. Additionally, we all need balance in our lives, and vacation time can help us in our quest to achieve it.
With that opening, please consider this question:
Do you think you have a fair and reasonable number of total days off available to you on an annual basis?
If you answered “No”, you’re probably like many of us here in the U.S. and Canada. If you answered “Yes”, good for you. But even if you answered positively, do you know how those of us in North America fare vs. people around the world?
An article from Marketwatch that I came across shows the results of a study that measured the amount of days off an average employee receives per year. The typical employee, for purposes of an apples to apples comparison, was considered to be someone with 10 years of service and a 5-day workweek. There were 41 countries in the study.
When searching the results for the U.S., they tell us that the average number of days of is 25. As an American, this seems believable from what I have seen. For Canadians, the number is a bit lower: 19 days off.
When comparing this to the rest of the world, based on the sample of 41 countries, we can put this into it’s proper context:
- The U.S. ranks 3rd from the bottom of the list of 41
- Canada ranks dead last
Here is the full list of 41, again in terms of average total days off:
1. Brazil: 41
1. Lithuania: 41
2. Finland, 40
2. France, 40
2. Russia, 40
3. Austria, 38
3. Malta, 38
4. Greece, 37
5. Japan, 36
5. Poland, 36
5. Spain, 36
5. Sweden, 36
5. United Kingdom, 36
6. Cyprus, 35
6. Luxembourg, 35
6. Norway, 35
6. Portugal, 35
6. Slovakia, 35
7. Denmark, 34
7. South Korea, 34
8. Hungary, 33
8. Slovenia, 33
8. South Africa, 33
9. Czech Republic, 32
9. Latvia, 32
10. Italy, 31
10. New Zealand, 31
11. Belgium, 30
11. Germany, 30
11. Romania, 30
12. Ireland, 29
12. Switzerland, 29
13. Australia, 28
13. India, 28
13. Netherlands, 28
13. Taiwan, 28
14. Hong Kong, 26
15. United States, 25
15. Singapore, 25
16. China, 21
17. Canada, 19
It’s certainly food for thought, don’t you think?
Questions for You:
So, now how do you feel about the amount of days off you receive? Have your thoughts changed?
When you consider our savings rates, as we previously examined here, it appears that here in North America we work hard with less time off than our friends around the world, but don’t have as much to show for it.
Yikes, I knew that we were low, but I didn’t realize we were third from the bottom mate. The interesting thing is there is increased productivity when you can recharge, as you mentioned.
Shawn – yes, the U.S. is close to the bottom. When you connect the low (relatively) number of days off with the low savings rate, it’s thought provoking, at least in my view.
So this includes holidays right? (Christmas, Memorial Day, etc) Because I don’t know many people that get 5 weeks of solid vacation after 10 years. Or, maybe I don’t know enough people?
Regardless, either we need to work less, or Brazil needs to work more!
Everyday Tips – it includes all days off, including holidays. Yes, I don’t know many people with 5 solid weeks of vacation either….which makes sense, apparently, as I’m American:)
Does this include holidays? I would say the Canada experience is accurate. 2 weeks a year to 3 weeks is common, though many older people especially in unionized or government jobs will get 4 and 5 weeks a year.
Invest in Wisely – It’s all days off that are included. U.S. and Canada are pretty low overall, and we apparently don’t save either! As for the multinationals in Korea, that’s no life! No weekends off and one true holiday would be unsustainable for those of us here in North America.
P.S. South Korea at 34? That runs completely contrary to what I have heard about people working in some multinational giants like Samsung. They often don’t even get the *weekends* off (that’s 100+ days you’re taking for granted that they cannot take for granted!); in fact, for many people the only true holiday is Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. If you work for Samsung, Samsung will become your wife (or husband)!
Maybe it’s different if you’re not working for one of those big corporations, though.
Yes, this must include holidays. The usual is 3 weeks vacation + 10 holidays.
It’s pretty sad. I don’t think we have enough time off to recharge. I would love to travel more and 3 weeks is barely enough if you’re going to another continent with all the flight time and clock change in there.
We are a workaholic society.
I guess I should be happy with my 30 days. My vacation time bumped up to 4 weeks after 10 years.
Retire By 40 – I agree with your comments on recharging. We all need time to do that, at least most of us probably do. If you’re rested and full of energy, and can separate, you might be more focused when actually working. That’s where things like travel come into play, as you say. Totally agree.
I think it’s sad too. I get 8 holidays, 6 sick days, and 10 vacation days. 24 days just seems sucky to me.
Crystal – I suspect your day off schedule is pretty typical. Not as bad as what I once faced in an early job: one week off during my first year. Officially, they told me I wasn’t supposed to get any vacation time, but they worked it into the job offer. In retrospect, it might have been a mind game in the first place. Anyway, I’m all for more time off, and think that it allows us to recharge our batteries so to speak, and be more productive overall anyway.
I don’t know about China being towards the last with regards to official holidays. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s interchangeably called, can be a two week affair all by itself. Although officially only 3 days, in 2011 it will be Feb 2nd to Feb 8th. Plus, it’s customary to give employees time off (paid or unpaid, depending on company policy) before and after the festival, to give employees enough time to travel back to hinterland provinces, frequently by train. National “Day” occurring in October, is good for another week off. There other assorted holidays that may or not be observed, like Dragon boat festival.
Years ago I ran into a couple at the Grand Canyon visiting from Europe. They were on a 3-week vacation and I realized then that people in other countries have more vacation time. I guess that was one of the reasons why I decided to choose teaching as a career – lots of days off!
Little House – Not bad, taking a 3 week vacation. I suppose for them a vacation to the US that includes the Grand Canyon might be something like us visiting some of the great sites of Europe. For most here, that would be a dream trip.
I’d like to see these numbers put up against some reference of productivity. It’s mind boggling that people can take this much time off. I assume they might not be paying health care costs. Maybe they don’t pay for their retirement. They could be receiving high wages or have lower expenses. I don’t think Americans are just workaholics, there must be some other reason. I enjoy a vacation as much as anyone. I would take more time off if I could afford it.
Dave – I do believe that some people can take that time off, even if it seems mind boggling to many of us at home. But yes, that’s a good point about productivity. If one looks at savings as well, it’s interesting how we work hard but save little on a percentage basis.
I’m not at all surprised by the European numbers but I am surprised by China. Don’t they have moon festival and chinese new year where the whole country shuts down for the week? I would have thought the number would be a little higher.
My pharmaceutical friend here gets sabbatical. Every 5 years, he gets a 6 week off paid leave to recharge. They work they’re people pretty hard, but they do give them breaks too. That would be one benefit I’d love…even if it were unpaid, but the reality is that if you took an unpaid leave for no reason other than to have a break, it’s viewed negatively by most big companies. Wouldn’t it be great to spend the summer with your kid’s one year?
I do find it ironic that we’re complaining about vacation days when we have weekends off, which we don’t even count here, and we have 40 hour work weeks instead of 60 to 80 as was common in the industrial revolution, or 100+ as was common in agricultural times.
We humans do like to complain, don’t we? Then again, pre-civilization we had maybe 20 hour work-weeks and it was something we loved to do since that’s the environment we evolved in. I think that with growing capital abundance and production we can move to a 30 hour week week and below and still make enough money to meet our needs. It’s all about reducing consumption. Do you really need 4 flat screen TVs and a huge house? For those of us fortunate enough to live in rich societies like North America, I think we’re doing it to ourselves in many respects.
Invest it Wisely – you make some interesting observations. I know what you mean about consumption, and perhaps we do some of this to ourselves. Who needs a $40,000 SUV, when you can drive a small $15,000 car instead and sacrifice space and options instead? Again, it’s thinking about opportunity costs, as you have wisely pointed out elsewhere. To make that after-tax extra $25,000 takes a fair amount of work for most people.
Also, for balance, I would add that based on supply and demand, maybe we really do have to work a lot. If the average person tried to get a job but demanded 30-hour weeks instead of 40+ (or much more sometimes) hour weeks that many jobs require, he or she wouldn’t get the job. Same goes with demanding vacation time line with that of some of the other nations in this list. Unfortunately, this is what the market for human capital is bearing these days, here in the U.S. and Canada!
Okay, I almost fell off the chair when I saw that Lithuania, the country where I was born and lived for 26 years, made it to number 1. 41 days of vacation?! If anything, Lithuanians need to work more because the country is a huge mess! 🙂
Aloysa – it’s an interesting list, isn’t it? I have to say, 41 days off is pretty good! I’ll take your word for the state of the country, as I haven’t been there:)
Great stats, it has made me more curious… Do all the countries work a 40 hour week, and typically only 5 our of 7 days? I bet in the developed counties we also have longer work days than a lot of other developed countries…
I can see most of the developed countries being that way, but some of the less developed countries I could see them not getting both Saturday and Sunday off.
Our vacation days at work cap out at 200 hours per year, we get so many hours per month. Once you hit 200, if you don’t use them you lose then. How’s that for sad…
I can comment only one 2 countries India & USA. First USA, I don’t have separate sick & personal vacation days, just one single “time off” slot which is 4 weeks a year. I also get 8 fixed and 2 floating holidays. One of the perks for taking a lower paying job in my field I suppose.
For India, in theory, yes you get a lot of holidays, but only the government or bank or public sector employees get to take those. For the private sector, it basically 24X7 throughout the year, they get some time off during the Thanksgiving and Christmas (yes, they follow US and Europe holiday days because that is the down time for them as well with most business coming from these countries). Other than that, my friends work 20 hr day and weekends as well. Just another data point…