U.S. Workers Are Taking a Bit More Vacation Despite Their Employers
Photo Credit: Washington, D.C. was the top city in the country for most unused vacation days in 2016. Pictured is a tourist taking a photo of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. Flickr / Mike Boening Photography
Skift Take
The U.S. vacation deprivation phenomenon is a nationwide, coast-to-coast problem but seems to be especially apparent in large east and west coast markets that are often the bread and butter of many travel brands' business.
The United States' no-vacation nation problem was slightly softened last year: The average American took 16.8 vacation days in 2016 compared to 16 days in 2014, a 5 percent increase.
But vacation benefits and actual workplace cultures around paid time off are often a horse of a different color, and a new survey from a vacation research organization show that U.S. cities and states with the worst vacation track records also have many employers who don't like giving their workers vacation time.
That's according to U.S. Travel's Project: Time Off coalition, which found that in 2016, 662 million vacation days were left on the table.
Many of the vacation days left unused can't be rolled over each year -- and that costs a pretty penny. The time that cannot be rolled over, banked or paid out is down eight percent from 2015 to 206 million forfeited days.
Last year, United States employees gave up $66.4 billion in lost vacation benefits, about $604 on average per employee.
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