54% of workers in the United States did not use all their vacation days in 2017, which represented a loss of 236,000 million dollars in direct spending, according to a study published today.
The report, made by “Project: Time Off”, a movement that points out the lack of holiday planning as the main cause, points out, however, that the average number of rest days was 17 in 2017, one more day than in 2014, year in which the trend hit bottom.
For this reason, more than 600 organizations promoted the National Day to Plan Holidays, which is celebrated today, and which seeks to reverse the trend by which more than 50% of Americans do not spend their time designing their vacations.
Still, the study of “Project: Time Off”, an organization that seeks to break the “stigma” that brings the fact of going on vacation, says that 54% of workers left a total of 662 million free days unused.
Had this time been spent on tourism, it is estimated that 128,000 million direct spending would have been generated, with a total impact on the US economy of 236,000 million dollars.
The study is based on a survey of more than 7,000 Americans who work more than 35 hours and whose days off are not deducted from salary.
Idaho is the state where most workers do not enjoy all their free days, 78%, and it is the region where they are particularly aware of the total dedication to employment – 10% more than the average of the country -, in addition to having a greater concern about the fact that they seem replaceable in their absence.
They are followed by New Hampshire, Alaska and South Dakota, the latter fearful of the amount of accumulated work that they would have to deal with when they return, while in the capital of the country and San Francisco and Tampa (Florida) they are the cities with less holidays.
In contrast, only 38% of Maine workers did not use all of their free days, being the state that tops the list, while Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) is the city that most profited from its available days, followed by Chicago, Phoenix , Orlando and Miami.
In these cities, as well as in the states of Maine, Arkansas, Hawaii and Arizona, the percentage of employees who claim to suffer stress at work is less than 70% of the national average.
The education sector is the one that leaves more days unused, followed by officials, reveals the study.
