Ease of Travel

In a CNNMoney article it was reported that half of Americans are surrendering eight or more days of vacation a year! This data was culled from records from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics by Universal Orlando Resort - so I doubt they’d be skewing the data in any way. Newark, NJ topped the list with the most surrendered days and Sacramento, CA with the least.

Seriously, people should find this amazing especially when you consider the fact that people stereotype Americans as being fat and lazy. We already don’t get the lighter work days and more frequent vacation periods the Europeans do - so it seems like the fat and lazy stereotype is out the window.

Between demands at work and the increased cost of travel, it’s not incredibly surprising to find out that vacation days aren’t being used. As the number of available jobs decrease, the need to outperform at work becomes more important than taking a day off. Also, as you get older and have kids, the opportunities to go on vacations decrease. Unfortunately the article didn’t delve into demographics to give us some further insight on the matter.

Regardless, Tom Williams, CEO of the parent company of Universal Orlando Resort, had a good quote:

“Can you imagine your reaction if you were told in a job interview that you were expected to work eight days each year for free?”