President's Day: another reminder how messed up US holiday policies are

US government workers, teachers, postal service employees, and (most) bank tellers turned off their alarms this morning for President's Day. There were also noticeably fewer people on the Big Apple subways since New York stock exchange isn't trading today.

If you get today off, you're lucky. If you get it off with pay, you're even more fortunate. As the nation divides today between those with out-of-office messages and those still going to work, consider this: about one in four working Americans get no paid vacation or holidays (pdf). None.

America is only developed nation that has no legal requirement for any paid days off. The next worst off workers are in Japan and Canada, which mandate at least 10 and 19 paid days off a year, respectively. European nations ensure at least 20 days with many giving 25+.

You can see a full country-by-country analysis below from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think thank which dubbed the US the "No-Vacation Nation". Australia and New Zealand also look generous with 28 and 30 days, respectively.


Comparison of legal required paid time off in different developed nations.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/17/presidents-day-paid-time-off-america-lacking