AMERICANS ONLY GET TWO WEEKS VACATION PER YEAR???

Vitaly Shmatikov wrote:

In article , Sara wrote:

Two weeks is the average only for entry-level jobs. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (www.bls.gov) has a ton of data on paid vacation time
(nothing more recent than 1997-98, though). For example, the average
paid vacation time (this doesn't include paid personal leave days and
sick days) after 10 years of service is 16.9 days (almost 3.5 weeks)
for employees in private establishments, 18.6 days for employees of
state and local governments.

Average for 10 years of service! How many Americans are staying at
companies for 10 years these days?

According to BLS, 31% of workers age 25 and over had 10 or more years
of tenure with their current employer in January 2004. I personally
know plenty of people who have been at their companies for 10 years
or longer. When they leave, they usually negotiate a much higher
salary *and* at least as much vacation time at their new place as
they accumulated at the old place. You see, people whose skills are
in demand are usually in a very strong negotiating position when it
comes to switching jobs.

The average American worker gets two weeks and it does not mean only
entry-level workers. That statement is correct.

That statement is a mathematical impossibility. Per BLS numbers,
the average American worker *with 1 year of service* gets two weeks,
and that doesn't even include government employees. Since the average
includes people with more than 1 year of service, the average across
all workers is certainly more than 2 weeks.

Since by your data only 31% have 10 or more years tenure their situation
has no mathematical impact on the average. The only question is if
there are over 19% of the workers who have less than 10 years tenure and
get over 2 weeks vacation.

Do Australia and Japan count as industrial countries? The average
worker there works longer hours than in the US.

You are incorrect.

My numbers come from OECD via the Economist (Aug 21-27 issue, you
can find it at your local library). Somehow I trust them more than
a bunch of no-name websites like ``Hartford Web Publishing'' and the
``Shalom Center.'' Sorry.