There’s still a month to go before the end of the year,
There’s still a month to go before the end of the year, but most Americans will let their last remaining vacation days go unused.
The average American worker earned 14 vacation days this year but will only take 12 of them, according to a survey by Expedia. That’s about the same number of days they left on the table last year.
While two forfeited days of vacation may not seem like a lot, it can really add up. Altogether, Americans are giving up 226 million unused vacation days this year. Considering that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average full-time worker earns $39,416 a year — that’s $34.3 billion worth of time.
The reason most workers say they chose to slave away at work rather than relax on a beach, is that they could not afford to travel, Expedia said. “Lack of planning” was the second-most-cited excuse among those surveyed.
Only in Asian countries did workers put less emphasis on vacations than Americans, according to the survey. In Japan, for example, workers earned 11 days a year and used just five.
Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation online survey polled 7,803 workers in 20 countries.
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