Stop Donating Your Vacation Days to Your Boss

Nearly 90% of private-sector workers get paid vacation days from their job, but a Pew survey found 46% leave at least some of it on the table. Government survey data also show that the share of workers who are on vacation in any given week has fall by about half between 1980 and 2022. Blame thin staffing, guilt culture, and “PTO bundles” that push people to ration days between vacation days and sick leave. The fix exists elsewhere: the European Union, for instance, guarantees 20 paid days a year. If a Costco cashier is able to vacation in Europe twice, so should you. Chapters: 0:52 Announcements 2:53 Retcon Marathon 11:01 Terms & Conditions: Statutory Leave 12:04 Big Pilcrow: Vacation Days 14:03 Why Do We Think We Can't Take Time Off? 16:01 No Staffing Slack in the Office 16:51 Vacation Guilt is a Real Thing 18:51 What's Worker Power Got to Do With It? 20:20 Decline in Days Off: What the Data Says 21:17 Vague Numbers of Vacation Days 24:23 Cost of Travel is Up 24:56 Statutory Leave Could Create Jobs 26:28 What are Workers Leaving on the Table? 28:48 How Much Does Vacation Time Cost Employers? 31:08 Vacation Marxist Economics-Style 34:40 The Curse of the Long-Weekend Vacation 38:21 Could the Government Mandate Vacation Time? 42:46 Executive Orders: ACFC wins and Americans with Children Act 46:23 Spiritual Sponsors: Lizards! Donate to Optimist Economy: https://optimisteconomy.com Video-curious? Watch the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠. We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠@optimist_economy. Chat with other Optimists on Substack. Find utility with our merch: https://merch.ambientinks.com/collections/optimisteconomy Got economic questions, concerns, or executive orders? Send them to optimist.economy@gmail.com