Vacation? What’s That?
Filed under: Culture, Economy, Europe — pamelaleavey on July 16, 2007 @ 6:08 am CEST
Vacation? What’s that? Here in America, we’re in the “land of the overworked and tired,” and sadly, as Ezra Klein reports in an OP/ED in the Sunday L.A. Times:
THE MOST astonishing revelations in Michael Moore’s “Sicko” have nothing to do with healthcare. They’re about vacation time. French vacation time, to be precise.
Yes, it’s true, the French and most of the European nations take far more vacation time than the average Americans and we’ve created a society of overworked and tired people. While Michael is on vacation for a month, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at life in America, where month long vactions are not so common. Reading Michael’s news of his month long vacation, I thought to myself, what would that be like? A month of vacation? As a self-employed only parent, with a small business and a blog, I rarely take any time off and when I do, I still end up working on something, business or blog, because I always have something to catch up on. And given that, I find myself frequently being among the overworked and tired sect of Americans.
Honestly, there is something wrong with this picture, because as Ezra points out, we are the “richest nation” in the world. Shouldn’t we be doing better on the leisure time issue instead of laboring so hard to keep up with the Joneses or just simply to make ends meet? Shouldn’t large corporations in America realize by now that overworked employees are not productive employees and start offering more vacation time? And shouldn’t small business owners like myself feel they can afford to close shop a couple of times a year and take a vaction? Absolutely. But none of this is happening… Instead Americans are working more than ever and we are the “only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation“:
A recent report by Rebecca Ray and John Schmitt of the Center for Economic and Policy Research suggests that Moore is, if anything, understating his case. “The United States,” they write, “is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation.” Take notice of that word “only.” Every other advanced economy offers a government guarantee of paid vacation to its workforce. Britain assures its workforce of 20 days of guaranteed, compensated leave. Germany gives 24. And France gives, yes, 30.
We guarantee zero. Absolutely none. That’s why one out of 10 full-time American employees, and more than six out of 10 part-time employees, get no vacation. And even among workers with paid vacation benefits, the average number of days enjoyed is a mere 12. In other words, even those of us who are lucky enough to get some vacation typically receive just over a third of what the French are guaranteed.This is strange. Of all these countries, the United States is, by far, the richest. And you would think that, as our wealth grew and our productivity increased, a certain amount of our resources would go into, well, us. Into leisure. Into time off. You would think that we’d take advantage of the fact that we can create more wealth in less time to wrest back some of those hours for ourselves and our families.
But instead, the exact opposite has happened. The average American man today works 100 more hours a year than he did in the 1970s, according to Cornell University economist Robert Frank. That’s 2 1/2 weeks of added labor. The average woman works 200 more hours — that’s five added weeks. And those hours are coming from somewhere: from time with our kids, our friends, our spouses, even our bed. The typical American, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sleeps one to two hours less a night than his or her parents did.
This would all be fine if it were what we wanted. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. One famous 1996 study asked associates at major law firms which world they’d prefer: The one they resided in, or one in which they took a 10% pay cut in return for a 10% reduction in hours worked. They overwhelmingly preferred the latter. Elsewhere, economists have given individuals sets of choices pitting leisure against goods. Leisure doesn’t always win out, but it is certainly competitive. Yet we’re pumping ever more hours into work, seeking ever-higher incomes to fund ever-greater consumption. Why?
[…]
This isn’t because people are stupid, or irrational, or don’t know what they want. Rather, it’s because the incentives are all fouled up. Frank calls it a “smart for one, dumb for all” problem, but it’s really just a classic failure of collective action. An individual would be made worse off were he to unilaterally opt out of the positional competition. But we would all be better off if we decided collectively to ratchet down the economic one-upmanship and instead devote a bit more time and resources to the leisure goods we claim to desire.
[…]
So too with vacations. Very few individual workers in the United States can ask for four weeks of vacation. It is not only outside the benefits of their job but far outside the culture of our workplace. The incentives for most every individual, particularly if they want to keep their position and amass a reputation as a good employee, is to abide by those norms.
But if the crowd outside “Sicko” was any indication, most people would love a substantial increase in vacation time. This is what other advanced nations have pursued, using the government’s role as an enforcer of collective sentiment to legislate the preferences that individuals could not, on their own, enact.
In this country, we’ve left it to the individuals, and thus the average American worker only takes 13 days of vacation a year, and many get none. We could do better, but that would require sidestepping American individualism for a moment and engaging in some American collectivism.
So here’s a question readers: When was the last time you had a vacation?
Last summer I took a 5 day trip to Washington D.C. with my daughter — some business, some pleasure — but hardly a vacation. On Wednesday, I’ll be heading out to the beach for 5 days where I will at least escape my business for a few days, but I do plan to blog some from the ocean view deck of my friend’s condo where I will be house-sitting. I guess that might be a vacation of sorts…
Cross posted with edits from The Democratic Daily.
1 Donnie McDaniel
July 16, 2007 @ 6:44 am CESTI gave a response over at The Dem Daily. They are dangling the promotion deal in front of me again. No vacation here since I left the oilfield.
2 C Stanley
July 16, 2007 @ 3:23 pm CESTWhat’s even worse is that many companies expect people to be accessible during vacation. My husband was asked if he could do some conference calls while we were away last week; he told them that wouldn’t be possible and for once he actually got a real break (this was particularly annoying because it’s a certain group of people in another office location who neglect to learn things they should be able to handle and instead choose to turn to hubs every time certain questions come up- so their request for his help is due to their convenient ignorance).
3 Alan
July 16, 2007 @ 3:45 pm CESTIt’s true that many companies discourage vacation, and many Americans don’t wan’t to take vacation for fear of falling behind either financially or professionally. Indeed, when given the choice of taking vacation days or exchanging vacation days for money, Americans usually choose the latter.
However, there is another possibility.
If you see your job as not just a job, but a vocation or “calling”, then you probably wouldn’t take a lot of vacation, given the fulfillment you receive from work.
Is it possible that Americans are more likely to see their careers as a “calling” than Europeans? It would explain why Americans seem more optomistic than their European counterparts.
Although you’d need some sort of polling data to support this, which I don’t have….
4 in2thefray
July 16, 2007 @ 3:56 pm CESTProductivity ? GDP from the CIA Factbook US rank 6 and from IMF 4. France is in the 20’s
Do you really mean government mandates. Socialism ?
In answer to the question of last vacation. April. Going again in October. Flex,holidays and floating days creating long weekends not included.
5 Alan
July 16, 2007 @ 4:23 pm CESTGDP depends upon the size of the country, and the US is considerably bigger than France.
From figures I heard a few years ago, the US leads in GDP per worker. France and Belgium lead in GDP per hour worked.
In terms of vacation, I can’t really take any–I’ve only been at this job 3 months, I’m starting school in 2 months, and you need 6 months to take vacation. The last extended vacation (more than 2 days) was back in 2005, when I took 5 days off. Since then, I’ve only taken a day off here and there.
But I’m not really big into vacations.
6 cfpete
July 16, 2007 @ 8:05 pm CESTJust a quick comment.
I have honestly written 100’s of pages about the French economy.
I do not have the time or permission to write everything here; but I can not believe that anyone would hold up the French as the Gold Standard. If anything, the French are an example of the failure of Market Socialism, but you hold them up as a White Knight. Have you looked at long term unemployment rates, immigrant unemployment rates, and the unemployment rate of those below 26.
In short, there will be another recession, copy the French example if you want to make that recession deeper and longer.
7 pamelaleavey
July 16, 2007 @ 9:24 pm CESTThanks everyone for your input.
CFPete
The point of the post isn’t really to compare economies and it certainly isn’t holding up the French as a “Gold Standard.” In the 70’s I spent some time in Europe when I was in my late teens. The European model for vacation time has been a long standing tradition. It’s vastly different from what is the norm in the U.S.
Maybe most folks in the U.S. don’t care about taking vacations, but there are studies that show that overworked and tired people are not as productive as they could be and can lead to health problems.
8 Interested
July 16, 2007 @ 11:05 pm CESTAt the same time you cannot really have a serious discussion about workplace vacation time and not also talk about how it affects economies good or bad. The two are completely inseparable.
Three weeks or a month is not overally uncommon if you’ve been at a location for a number of years. The best way to equate it would be to find an economy that gives the 30 days after you’ve been there for a decent amount of time and not with the business-penalizing employee retention laws.
if one exists, maybe Canada would be the closest.
9 pamelaleavey
July 17, 2007 @ 12:10 am CESTInterested
I agree… However, I was pointing out that I wasn’t holding up the French economy as any type of standard.
Some of the vacation thing indeed is a liefstyle choice as the article in the L.A. Times that I linked to points out. Some people would rather keep up with the Joneses than take a vacation. Then there are folks like myself who are self-employed and it’s hard to take a vaction with out closing my business of a few days.
What I find fascinating is the cultural difference. In Europe it really is the norm for many to take a month vacation.
10 Interested
July 17, 2007 @ 1:14 am CESToh I agree on a personal rather than country level. And I agree that the culture makes a difference. But it is that culture that got them into so many problems.
Me - I love work, love what I do. Age however, has dampened it somewhat.
11 Fred Fry
July 17, 2007 @ 4:38 am CESTMichael Moore’s view of France would have been drastically different had he gone there during August when everyone was on vacation. It’s almost like having health care eleven months out of the year.
As another poster stated, you earn those larger amounts of vacation the longer you work at many companies. I now get 5 weeks/year. I don’t take it like the Europeans though, I break it up into one week segments, or even into single days. I lived in Finland where they took the whole four weeks in one shot. Then they had to wait a full year for the next four weeks off. So which system is better exactly?
12 pamelaleavey
July 17, 2007 @ 5:08 am CESTInterested
I hear you on the age thing… One thing I have noticed in recent months… I ain’t as young as I used to be.
13 pamelaleavey
July 17, 2007 @ 5:12 am CESTFred Fry
Yes the bigger companies do offer more vacation after you have been there for a certain amount of time, but it does take a while to rack up the time and there are so many people who work for small companies that don’t get those benefits. Then there’s self employed folks like myself who find it hard to make or take the time.
14 Rich Horton
July 17, 2007 @ 5:18 am CESTI worked at one of those jobs (managing a small independent bookstore) where paid vacations were not always possible. I would wind up fudging my own overtime so I could get a little bit of pay if I took off a couple of days.
Eventually though, I was able to work in a week of paid vacation, so I booked my flight from Washington DC to Austin, Texas. My flight was to leave September 13th, 2001.
I’ve not had a paid vacation since either.
15 pamelaleavey
July 17, 2007 @ 5:30 am CESTRich
Bummer (showing my age). Flying isn’t so great any more I think. My daughter and I went to D.C. last August for a biz/educational trip and flew home separately. She got stuck in the terror alert and had to leave stuff behind.
As for me… well, my business has been slow lately and I’ve been looking forward to getting out to the beach on Wednesday evening for 5 days. Now as luck would have it, I get a big rush order that I didn’t want to turn down and so I’ll be making a trip back on Friday to complete the order and ship it out. Such is life.
16 Fred Fry
July 17, 2007 @ 5:13 pm CEST“so many people who work for small companies that don’t get those benefits. Then there’s self employed folks like myself who find it hard to make or take the time.”
- Well they could regulate that small businesses are required to provide much more generous compensation packages, but how many business would fold up or decide to employ less people? As for being self-employed, talk to the boss about the lack of vacation. Just be thankful that the Government does not force you to take a mandatory vacation from your business!
(I am looking at buying a business so I am constantly being reminded that there is no vacation from that.)
17 pamelaleavey
July 17, 2007 @ 11:25 pm CESTFred Fry
There is no vacation from being self-employed. I have been self-employed for 12 years. The whole concept of the European month long vacation is interesting, of course we all know it’s hard to make it work for most people in the U.S. for a variety of factors.
18 mvdg
July 18, 2007 @ 11:43 am CESTfour weeks is not normal. working people have three weeks off. they go on vacation for 2 mostly.
19 peter
July 24, 2007 @ 8:54 am CESTTo cfpete
Maybe you should look at how many US familys are living beneath the official poverty line.
How many in the US have 2 or more jobs to survive, how many familys cant afford decent healthcare, university for the kids or as an adult to go to a university.
How many have minimum wage salarys that can barely survive each month.
The thing is, you cant say that French is not a good economy compared to US and not mentioning that French people are happier, in better health, more likely to succeed than a average US person, simply because France have a more fair society compared to US, weird but true.
And Im not French!!! Dont even like them, but they do deserve some praise.
20 peter
July 24, 2007 @ 9:14 am CEST“four weeks is not normal. working people have three weeks off. they go on vacation for 2 mostly.”
Where i work, in a European country, 4 weeks of vacation is normal.
I have 5 weeks and can choose to take them whenever i want to.
21 mvdg
July 24, 2007 @ 9:30 am CESTI was talking about the Netherlands and it is most certainly not normal here. What country do you live in if I may ask? A scandanavian country?
22 peter
July 25, 2007 @ 8:20 am CESTCorrect, a scandinavian country.
Heard from other non-sacndinavian countries that do the same.
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