The title pretty much says it. What percentage of Americans who are employed do not get paid vacation time, and what sort of jobs do they have?
According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, 77 percent of all (private industry) employees had access to paid vacations (2006 figures). Found it here.
Can’t help with the second part of the question.
Following Duckster’s link to the advanced tables (Employee Benefits Survey) here gives these tables (sorted by %VAC):
%HOL - % with paid holidays (2006 data unless noted)
%VAC - % with paid vacations (2006 data unless noted)
%HOL %VAC
76 77 ...ALL WORKERS
88 90 ...Full-time Workers
86 88 ...Professional, Technical, And Related Workers (2000 data, last avail)
85 86 ...Workers In Goods-producing Industries
86 86 ...Workers In Establishments With 100 Or More Workers
84 83 ...White-collar Workers
83 83 ...Union Workers
73 79 ...Blue-collar Workers
?? 77 ...Nonunion Workers
74 75 ...Workers In Service-producing Industries
68 70 ...Workers In Establishments With 1-99 Workers
73 67 ...State and Local Governments (1998 data, last avail)
50 59 ...Service Workers
37 36 ...Part-time Workers
So (excepting part-time employment), the jobs least likely to grant vacation time are in the service sector, state and local governments, and small businesses.
The problem is that it doesn’t say how the time is applied. For instance I’ve worked in some jobs where they will send you home early? You can take your vacation in 2 hours increments so you can make your 40 hours.
Or conversely some places make you take it all in one lump.
There are other factors at play as well. I worked as an IT contractor for two years. Contractors generally don’t get paid vacation time at all but big whoop. I made a lot more than the hourly employees at the same level and I could theoretically take as many vacations as I could responsibly negotiate and still come out ahead money-wise. When my current company forced me to go permanent, they touted the three weeks vacation they were offering yet my calculator wasn’t showing that to be a good deal for me.
I only say that because no paid vacation is usually viewed as a bad thing and it doesn’t have to be. There are lots of people that fall under those circumstances.
They omitted self-employed people with no employees, like me. I can take off as many days as I want, but I have no income for those days.
Something’s screwey!
State & Local Governments always give Federal Holidays off.
We get low pay, but bennys & free time.
Yeah, I thought that was odd too. I poked around a little looking for a multivariate query but didn’t find one, so I can’t explain it any further.
But that gets to the crux of the OPs question. The BLS data shows that 6.7 percent of working americans are independent contractors, and another 8.9 percent are contractors or temps, and 13.6 percent are part-time workers. While some of those folks might have vacation benefits, most don’t, and when you add in the 5.9 percent who are self-employed, that’s a third of the work force.
Not so. Did you consider employees of state corrections facilities, mental hospitals, state owned utilities, and other operations that require personel 24/7?
That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t get the time off- my state keeps offices open on Election day, but we get a “floating holiday”.
The only way I can understand that state and local government number being so low is if there are a lot more part-time and seasonal government workers than I imagined.
Commissioned salespeople are in the same boat as panache45. They can take time off, but if they aren’t selling, they aren’t getting paid.
College prof here; no vacation time since granted since that would disrupt the semester schedule; some have spring break and some don’t–depends on the campus. We do have some three-day weekends.
Otherwise, if we choose not to teach during the summer or winter intersessions, that time would be our vacation time. Some prefer/need to work at that time, though.
As an independent contractor, the idea of “paid vacation” just doesn’t make sense. It’s not that I don’t get paid vacation, it’s that the notion doesn’t jibe with the realities of the situation. I get paid by monthly retainers from a few places and on a per-job basis for others. If I want a day off, I just let the people who may contact me that day know I won’t be around. Basically I’m paid to do a certain amount of work. As long as I do it, the people who pay me don’t care if I take “vacation time.”
They get comped for that, with leave that they can take as they please, and often extra pay to boot.
While I cannot really take vacation time, I get paid vacation days that accrue throughout the semester. Our unions (2 unions, I teach at 2 schools) negotiated this as a benefit. I can use the vacation time for conferences, but otherwise, it acts as a bonus that they pay out at the end of the year.
If there’s a business purpose to a conference, I get paid my salary when going to such. And expenses. This often costs much, much more than a single day of vacation is worth. On the other hand, vacation for us is on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, per calendar year (officially, anyway).
Missed the edit window on this…
Are you UC? At the CA community college level, you are paid by the hour, and you need the vacation time if you plan on not teaching for any reason, such as a conference. At CSU, I have no idea how you would go about using it, but we get it. I have an hourly total of vacation and sick time attached to each of my paychecks.
This is ‘officially’ the way it works where I work. A coworker is expecting a visit from her sister and is trying to make plans. As written, employees are allowed ten days paid vacation time after working for the company for one year. The time is to be taken before the end of the calendar year. Problem for her: she was hired in October 2006. That would mean that she must take a winter vacation, or else lose it.
Our treasurer says that’s not how it works; but that’s the way it’s written in the employee handbook. The handbook also says that employees must receive annual vacation time; only going strictly by the way it’s written, there’s no vacation the first year. The treasurer, who handles such things, has been with this non-profit company for 35 years. (The president has been there for 40.) He says this situation hasn’t come up before. My coworker feels herself ill-used. I pointed out that a lot of people do not get any paid vacation time (which prompted this thread).
FWIW, our vacation policy is a bit old-fashioned. Two weeks after a year (apparently). Three weeks after ten years! Plus three sick days. A previous employer offered two weeks for the first five years, with hours accruing on the month following your hire date, three paid Personal Days in addition to vacation, and unlimited sick leave for salaried employees (as long as you don’t abuse it).
I’m at the community college, but I am PT. I didn’t realize that any of us got vacation time on any campus. If I went to a conference, I would have to apply for some sort of release time, or I would just use “personal necessity” (I wouldn’t want to lie and say I’m sick when I’m not).
The situation may be different for FT. I’m not coming from that angle, though.
I should have checked the contract before posting—sorry.