American Vacations

One of the things that Euro-peons are always whining at Americans about is that we don't travel overseas. Goodness, most of you colonists, don't even have a passport.

Well, up until this year we didn't need one if we were staying inside the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and most of the Caribbean. This amounts to almost a fifth of the land area of the planet, ignoring Antarctica (for which I doubt you need a passport for anyway, since it's supposed to be "neutral" ground).

The other factor, as I see it, is that while foreigners get a lot of vacation, American bosses don't have to give you squat.

Workers in Finland had one of the best annual leave packages among developed countries, a study by the center found. Finnish workers received 30 days of paid vacation plus another nine paid holidays.

French workers were guaranteed 30 days of paid annual leave, but only one paid holiday. Most European workers were guaranteed at least 20 days of vacation, and some also received as many as 13 paid holidays.

Canadian workers were guaranteed 10 days of vacation plus another eight paid holidays, while Japanese laborers only were guaranteed 10 days of annual leave, the study found.

U.S. workers were guaranteed neither paid vacations nor paid holidays.

Despite the lack of government guarantees, 90 percent of U.S. employers offered vacation, the study found. Workers received an average of nine days of paid vacation and six paid holidays, a total of 15 days off per year.

Now, remember, in these foreign countries this is the minimum vacation they can give a new, first-time employee. It negotiates upwards from there.