A Thanksgiving Reminder That America Alone Doesn’t Guarantee Time Off For Vacations Or Holidays

[ProSense]

Reposting: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021867711

A Thanksgiving Reminder That America Alone Doesn’t Guarantee Time Off For Vacations Or Holidays

By Pat Garofalo

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Having to miss special occasions and holidays is an all-too-real phenomenon for many of America’s workers, as the U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not mandate vacation time. As the Center for Economic and Policy Research found:

European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year, with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries. Australia and New Zealand both require employers to grant at least 20 vacation days per year; Canada and Japan mandate at least 10 paid days off. The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger if we include legally mandated paid holidays, where the United States offers none, but most of the rest of the world’s rich countries offer between five and 13 paid holidays per year.

In the absence of government standards, almost one in four Americans have no paid vacation and no paid holidays. According to government survey data, the average worker in the private sector in the United States receives only about nine days of paid vacation and about six paid holidays per year: less than the minimum legal standard set in the rest of world’s rich economies excluding Japan (which guarantees only 10 paid vacation days and requires no paid holidays).

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/22/1225291/thanksgiving-vacation-days/

Can we do this now?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021861071

[yeoman6987]

1. Europe

Europe has the best. They have many holidays and vacation time off. However trying to get a job is a big challenge that doesn't happen for many especially the young.

[cthulu2016]

2. Yup. American workers are poorly compensated. (A paid holidy is a raise)

Paid off-time is equivalent to a pay increase. At the end of the year your real hourly rate is higher.

And looked at that way, we Americans are even worse paid than we think.

[ProSense]

3. It's actually a benefit.

A person earning $25 an hour with paid time off as a benefit versus someone earning the equivalent without isn't getting a pay increase when paid time off is added. Sure, if you look at the overall compensation it matters, but that's like saying health care is a pay increase.

In fact, some employers, especially those who use contract workers, up the hourly rate for certain jobs that do not include benefits.

[hedgehog]

4. I recently had to explain to the wife of a

Brazilian co-worker that my daughter got NO paid maternity leave! I had to explain why, also!