The Great Vacation Squeeze
26m
Directed by John de Graaf • Documentary • 2014 • 27 minutes
Americans have the shortest vacations of any rich country. And they are actually getting even shorter. The US is one of only five countries in the world—the others are Burma, Nepal, Suriname and Guyana—which have no law guaranteeing any paid vacation time for workers. The average US vacation is a bit over two weeks, while the median is only about a week and a half, and American workers give back about three vacation days every year. Europeans enjoy five or six weeks of vacation each year and are healthier than Americans.
Vacations matter—for productivity, happiness, family bonding and especially, health. Men who don't regularly take vacations are a third more likely to suffer heart attacks than those who do; women are fifty percent more likely, and far more likely to suffer from depression.